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
Or consider former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s Strive Asset Management, which in May announced a reverse merger with Asset Entities, an $86 million provider of content delivery solutions that had otherwise been languishing, to buy bitcoin.
—Nina Bambysheva, Forbes.com, 18 June 2025
While the offense and defense have been excellent at times under head coach Kyle Shanahan, the special teams has languished at the bottom half of the NFL the last five seasons, with last year’s mistake-prone unit ranking 31st in DVOA.
—Matt Barrows, New York Times, 18 June 2025
For most of the week, Charlie languishes on the sidelines, unpicked by any of the girls at the first firepit and beginning to panic by the time of the Bases challenge, where most of the girls have ranked him in fourth place.
—Kathleen Walsh, Vulture, 11 June 2025
Few prognosticators expected to see the Atlanta Braves languishing outside the National League playoff race, let alone with a losing record, two months into the season.
—Jon Paul Hoornstra, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for languish
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.
Nina Bambysheva, Forbes.com, 18 June 2025
While the offense and defense have been excellent at times under head coach Kyle Shanahan, the special teams has languished at the bottom half of the NFL the last five seasons, with last year’s mistake-prone unit ranking 31st in DVOA.
—Matt Barrows, New York Times, 18 June 2025
For most of the week, Charlie languishes on the sidelines, unpicked by any of the girls at the first firepit and beginning to panic by the time of the Bases challenge, where most of the girls have ranked him in fourth place.
—Kathleen Walsh, Vulture, 11 June 2025
Few prognosticators expected to see the Atlanta Braves languishing outside the National League playoff race, let alone with a losing record, two months into the season.
—Jon Paul Hoornstra, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for languish
Cite this Entry
“Languish.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/languish. Accessed 23 Jun. 2025.
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
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share