languish
verb
lan·guish
ˈlaŋ-gwish 
languished; languishing; languishes
1
a
: to be or become feeble, weak, or enervated
Plants languish in the drought.
b
: to be or live in a state of depression or decreasing vitality
languished in prison for ten years
2
a
: to become dispirited
b
: to suffer neglect
the bill languished in the Senate for eight months
3
: to assume an expression of grief or emotion appealing for sympathy
… languished at him through screwed-up eyes.—
Edith Wharton
Edith WhartonExamples of languish in a Sentence
older people, especially, were languishing during the prolonged heat wave
Recent Examples on the Web
For decades, Cartagena's regal promenade, once the gateway to this nearly 500-year-old city in Colombia, was crowned by a collection of heritage landmark buildings that languished in various states of disrepair.
—Carley Rojas Avila, Travel + Leisure, 21 May 2026
Emery, for one, has confirmed his place in Villa’s history as the elite manager who has transformed a team who were, lest it be forgotten, languishing just above the Premier League’s relegation zone under predecessor Steven Gerrard’s management.
—Daniel Taylor, New York Times, 21 May 2026
The site of a skeletal office tower that has languished for years at the corner of 14th and Peachtree streets and labeled by neighbors as an eyesore has been deemed unsafe by the city of Atlanta.
—Savannah Sicurella, AJC.com, 20 May 2026
While on-premises systems can languish without security patches, cloud platforms offer continuous, automated hardening.
—Robert Messer, Forbes.com, 20 May 2026
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Carley Rojas Avila, Travel + Leisure, 21 May 2026
Emery, for one, has confirmed his place in Villa’s history as the elite manager who has transformed a team who were, lest it be forgotten, languishing just above the Premier League’s relegation zone under predecessor Steven Gerrard’s management.
—Daniel Taylor, New York Times, 21 May 2026
The site of a skeletal office tower that has languished for years at the corner of 14th and Peachtree streets and labeled by neighbors as an eyesore has been deemed unsafe by the city of Atlanta.
—Savannah Sicurella, AJC.com, 20 May 2026
While on-premises systems can languish without security patches, cloud platforms offer continuous, automated hardening.
—Robert Messer, Forbes.com, 20 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for languish
Cite this Entry
“Languish.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/languish. Accessed 24 May. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
languish
verb
lan·guish
ˈlaŋ-gwish
1
: to become weak or languid : waste away
languish in prison
2
: to suffer neglect
a bill languishing in the Senate
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