Dictionary Definition
languish
Verb
1 lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief;
"After her husband died, she just pined away" [syn: pine away,
waste]
2 have a desire for something or someone who is
not present; "She ached for a cigarette"; "I am pining for my
lover" [syn: ache, yearn, yen, pine]
3 become feeble; "The prisoner has be languishing
for years in the dungeon" [syn: fade]
User Contributed Dictionary
Verb
- To lose strength and become weak
- To live in miserable or disheartening conditions
- He languished in prison for years
- To be neglected
- The case languished for years before coming to trial
- To pine away in
longing for something
- He languished without his girlfriend
- To affect a languid air in order to gain sympathy
Translations
to live in miserable conditions
to long for something
- French: languir
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
abate,
ablate, bate, be eaten away, become
suicidal, break, cave in,
collapse, come apart,
come unstuck, conk out, consume, consume away, corrode, crumble, decline, decrease, deliquesce, desiccate, despair, despond, deteriorate, die away,
diminish, disintegrate, dive, droop, drop, drop off, dry up, dwindle, ebb, erode, fade, fade away, fail, faint, fall, fall away, fall off, fizzle
out, flag, give out, give
way, go downhill, go soft, go to pieces, hit rock bottom, hit the
skids, lessen, let up,
lose heart, lose strength, melt away, peak, peg out, peter out, pine, plumb the depths, plummet, plunge, poop out, reach the
depths, run down, run low, sag, sear, shrink, shrivel, sink, subside, tail off, touch bottom,
wane, waste, waste away, weaken, wear, wear away, wear thin,
wilt, wither, wither away, wizen, yield