Synonyms of languishes

languishes

verb

present tense third-person singular of languish

as in fades

to lose bodily strength or vigor

older people, especially, were languishing during the prolonged heat wave

Synonyms & Similar Words

• fades
• weakens
• sags
• goes
• fails
• sinks
• droops
• lags
• decays
• deteriorates
• wilts
• withers
• wastes (away)
• flags
• rots
• emaciates
• wears out
• yields
• breaks down
• degenerates
• runs down

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• recovers
• recuperates
• rebounds
• rallies
• convalesces
• gains

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of languishes

No such luck with Imperfect Women, which languishes in the same genre space but is perfectly obvious in comparison, a series that solves its mystery halfway through the season but still keeps going. —Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 18 Mar. 2026

Manu has found a home, but in the human world her mother languishes in a detention facility and her father, the head of a criminal enterprise, is known among her friends as a rebel who has disappeared and is assumed dead. —Mary Ann Grossmann, Twin Cities, 15 Feb. 2026

Those that finish from first to eighth in the league phase will automatically go through, and while Barca currently languishes in 15th, a win could take them up into the threshold depending on how other results pan out. —Tom Sanderson, Forbes.com, 21 Jan. 2026

Ditto for his team’s penalty kill, which languishes in the Eastern Conference basement. —Julian McKenzie, New York Times, 3 Jan. 2026

That blueprint has since become a template for developers eager to cultivate exclusivity while testing pricing in private and avoiding the public scrutiny of how many days a home languishes on the open market. —Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 22 Dec. 2025

Scientists are eager to bring Perseverance's haul — the 10 sample tubes dropped onto the crater floor in 2023 — back to laboratories on Earth, but their return remains uncertain as NASA's troubled Mars Sample Return program languishes in limbo. —Sharmila Kuthunur, Space.com, 19 Dec. 2025

However, more volatility could be in store as bitcoin languishes more than 30% below its record high and nerves linger about the yen carry trade. —John Towfighi, CNN Money, 1 Dec. 2025

The music, perhaps accordingly, sometimes languishes in a middle zone of wistful genre exercises. —Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 11 Nov. 2025