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 companionable dynamics in his scenes with Melling and Kene are a treat and help to leaven the languor that sets in the back-half of the run-time. Sophie Monks Kaufman, IndieWire, 3 Sep. 2024 By Judy Berman July 31, 2024 7:00 AM EDT Summer languor has set in on the TV calendar this July, as House of the Dragon and Love Island USA—but little else—have captivated viewers fresh off June’s The Bear binge. Judy Berman, TIME, 31 July 2024 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 See All Example Sentences for languor
Recent Examples of Synonyms for languor
Noun
  • But Below Deck Down Under has been stuck in a bad cycle all season, where a problem will emerge, escalate, and repeat itself to the point of boredom.
    Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 13 May 2025
  • Other times, procrastination stems from an emotional source—boredom, overwhelm, anxiety, dread, and so on.
    Kevin Kruse, Forbes.com, 22 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • With a newfound sense of self, Murderbot is forced to hide its disgust for human weakness and emotion.
    Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 16 May 2025
  • Proton Mail encourages you to save a recovery key in the form of a lengthy code and a QR code, but that recovery key itself now becomes a weakness.
    PC Magazine, PC Magazine, 14 May 2025
Noun
  • Context Forty years ago in Azerbaijan in the south Caucuses region of western Asia, the laconic lethargy of Soviet bulk wine production was walloped by planned vineyard destruction.
    Tom Mullen, Forbes.com, 11 May 2025
  • Imagine the possibilities to overcome political lethargy on these issues if voters had meaningful power to initiate change on their own.
    The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 4 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • In addition to exhaustion and dehydration, mountaineers can also find themselves at risk of avalanches, hypothermia and falling.
    Amy Woodyatt, CNN Money, 13 May 2025
  • The cost of this mental churning extends beyond personal exhaustion.
    Melody Wilding, Forbes.com, 13 May 2025
Noun
  • Maryland, which trailed 20-9 midway through the first half, stumbled out of its early stupor and went on a 7-0 run to get back in the game.
    Christian Babcock, Mercury News, 28 Mar. 2025
  • German movies of the 1970s will forever be linked with the New German Cinema movement, the auteur directors — led by the likes of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders, Margarethe von Trotta and Volker Schlöndorff — who shook the country out of its postwar stupor.
    Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Feb. 2025
Noun
  • Mind fatigue can lead to shortcuts such as not thoroughly proofing an important email or opting out of decision-making with your team.
    Bryan Robinson, Forbes.com, 17 May 2025
  • And the economy-powering consumers are already showing some signs of fatigue: Sales at US retailers slowed sharply in April to 0.1% after a surge of 1.7% in March, when shoppers rushed to beat the slew of new tariffs.
    Alicia Wallace, CNN Money, 15 May 2025
Noun
  • The result of this lassitude is that cars still rule the streets.
    Justin Davidson, Curbed, 18 Apr. 2025
  • 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
Noun
  • The shadow of death and debility haunted American women throughout the nineteenth century.
    Jenny Noyce, JSTOR Daily, 28 June 2024
  • President Biden’s troubles — lingering inflation, wars and rumors of wars, his debility — could have benefited any Republican.
    David Harsanyi, National Review, 25 Jan. 2024

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Cite this Entry

“Languor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/languor. Accessed 23 May. 2025.

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