stagnate

verb

stag·​nate ˈstag-ˌnāt 

stagnated; stagnating

intransitive verb

: to become or remain stagnant

a puddle of stagnating water

wages stagnated

Examples of stagnate in a Sentence

a puddle of stagnating water

Recent Examples on the Web

After laying off 6% of employees and bouncing both its content chief and head of feature films last week, Netflix reported its third straight quarter of slowing revenue growth Tuesday and acknowledged its stagnating viewership. — Rohan Goswami, semafor.com, 21 Oct. 2026

And in 2022, the great Netflix correction saw the company jump into advertising after years of denying it would as a way to counteract the narrative about its then-stagnating subscriber growth. — Dade Hayes, Deadline, 20 Oct. 2026

The changes come as Netflix faces stagnating viewership and growing competition from the likes of YouTube. — Sarah Whitten, CNBC, 20 Oct. 2026

Their offense stagnated and could muster only 12 points in the game. — Outkick, FOXNews.com, 18 Oct. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Latin stagnatus, past participle of stagnare, from stagnum body of standing water

First Known Use

1661, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for stagnate

• abate
• airfreight
• await
• baseplate
• berate
• birthdate
• birthrate
• bookplate
• borate
• breastplate
• bromate
• casemate

Kids Definition

stagnate

verb

stag·​nate ˈstag-ˌnāt 

stagnated; stagnating

: to be or become stagnant

stagnation

stag-ˈnā-shən 

noun