Synonym Chooser

How does the noun languor contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of languor are lassitude, lethargy, stupor, and torpor. While all these words mean "physical or mental inertness," languor suggests inertia induced by an enervating climate or illness or love.

languor induced by a tropical vacation

When is it sensible to use lassitude instead of languor?

While the synonyms lassitude and languor are close in meaning, lassitude stresses listlessness or indifference resulting from fatigue or poor health.

a depression marked by lassitude

When can lethargy be used instead of languor?

The meanings of lethargy and languor largely overlap; however, lethargy implies such drowsiness or aversion to activity as is induced by disease, injury, or drugs.

months of lethargy followed my accident

When could stupor be used to replace languor?

The synonyms stupor and languor are sometimes interchangeable, but stupor implies a deadening of the mind and senses by shock, narcotics, or intoxicants.

lapsed into an alcoholic stupor

When might torpor be a better fit than languor?

While in some cases nearly identical to languor, torpor implies a state of suspended animation as of hibernating animals but may suggest merely extreme sluggishness.

a once alert mind now in a torpor

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of languor The French Vietnamese director, Tran Anh Hung, is contemporary cinema’s great poet of languor. Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 9 Feb. 2024 There are two excellent reasons to savor the series, in all of its languor. Judy Berman, TIME, 4 Apr. 2024 The characters emote with the rich, sticky languor of a lava lamp, and none come to life with the force of those in the works to which Catán nods. Zachary Woolfe, New York Times, 17 Nov. 2023 Everyone was ready to shake off the languor of the hot afternoon and welcome in the shade of night. Jacqui Gifford, Travel + Leisure, 16 Nov. 2023 See All Example Sentences for languor
Recent Examples of Synonyms for languor
Noun
  • She’s never been interested in a career, because her nature is such that the boredom of a job would kill her.
    Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 24 Feb. 2025
  • Amid all the boredom and silliness that came with the league’s new All-Star format that (mostly) flopped, this was the most entertaining part of the entire program.
    Sam Amick, The Athletic, 16 Feb. 2025
Noun
  • According to the Mayo Clinic, Guillain-Barré is a condition in which the body's immune system attacks the nerves, resulting in weakness, numbness or paralysis.
    Hannah Sacks, People.com, 5 Mar. 2025
  • Countless emergency room visits, unexplained symptoms, body weakness, and pain became my new normal.
    Essence, Essence, 5 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • Symptoms also include lethargy, dehydration and vomiting, and the animals can die.
    Erika I. Ritchie, Orange County Register, 28 Feb. 2025
  • Symptoms in cats include fever, low appetite, lethargy, reddened or inflamed eyes, discharge from eyes and nose, and difficulty breathing.
    Vanessa Etienne, People.com, 24 Feb. 2025
Noun
  • While the world continues around them, parents of children with life-threatening illnesses experience profound exhaustion, fear, and anxiety.
    Friends of Karen, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2025
  • In a time of intense polarization, voters in municipal elections that were held Tuesday around the Chicago area showed encouraging signs of exhaustion with politicians’ drama.
    The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 27 Feb. 2025
Noun
  • Slim, chiselled Tom wakes from his stupor, newly determined to prove his haters wrong.
    Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 25 Jan. 2025
  • Symptoms of severe illness include high fever, severe headache, neck stiffness, disorientation, stupor, tremors, seizures, paralysis, or coma.
    Marley Malenfant, Austin American-Statesman, 4 Sep. 2024
Noun
  • Investigations into the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster revealed that key decision-makers worked on little sleep, raising concerns that fatigue impaired their judgment.
    Joanna Fong-Isariyawongse, The Conversation, 7 Mar. 2025
  • In addition, heavy exercise done while experiencing a respiratory viral illness can lead to chronic fatigue and even exacerbate myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle, according to a 2021 study published in the journal BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine.
    Melanie Radzicki McManus, CNN, 7 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • But neither was there the ho-hum, dutiful lassitude that usually accompanies second inaugurations, like Barack Obama’s in 2013.
    James Poniewozik, New York Times, 21 Jan. 2025
  • But the opinion, written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., went way further than necessary to insulate Trump from prosecution — not simply before the election, which the court, by its lassitude, had nearly guaranteed, but forever, even in the event that President Biden wins reelection.
    Ruth Marcus, Washington Post, 1 July 2024
Noun
  • The shadow of death and debility haunted American women throughout the nineteenth century.
    Jenny Noyce, JSTOR Daily, 28 June 2024
  • According to this view, the outside world has been generous to Africa, providing substantial aid in recent decades, leaving no excuse for the continent’s debility.
    Howard W. French, Foreign Affairs, 16 June 2015

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Cite this Entry

“Languor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/languor. Accessed 12 Mar. 2025.

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