languish
/ˈlæŋ.ɡwɪʃ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.55 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To pine away in longing for something; to have low spirits, especially from lovesickness.
Intransitive verb
Example Sentences
- "We […] do languish of such diseases."
- "He languished without his girlfriend."
- "He languished in prison for years."
- "An elderly Hungarian found languishing in a Russian mental hospital could finally be allowed to return home - 55 years after being taken prisoner by the Russian Army."
- "The case languished for years before coming to trial."
- "He is an excellent young man, and will suit Harriet exactly: it will be an "exactly so," as he says himself; but he does sigh and languish, and study for compliments rather more than I could endure as a principal."
Etymology
From Middle English languysshen, from the present participle stem of Anglo-Norman and Middle French languir, from Late Latin languīre, alteration of Latin languēre (“to be faint, unwell”). : Compare languor, languid and lax. : Cognate with slack.