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 This languor expands in the velvety air. J.t. Townley, The New York Review of Books, 6 Mar. 2025 Eastwood stars in both, and both suffer from some of the late-career languors that started to creep into his movies after a certain point, mostly due to a tendency to let dialogue scenes play on and on without much regard to rhythm or pace. Keith Phipps, Vulture, 1 Nov. 2024 That there was this kind of languor, a little bit of maturity. Lauren Huff, EW.com, 12 Sep. 2024 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 See All Example Sentences for languor
Recent Examples of Synonyms for languor
Noun
  • And yes, there were occasional hijinks spurred by youthful boredom and restlessness.
    Scott Huver, PEOPLE, 11 Oct. 2025
  • Because her motivations seem much more complicated than mere boredom in your adaptation.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 10 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • That humility will always prevail over ego, kindness isn’t a form of weakness, and true happiness isn’t measured by what’s in your bank account or even by the empty rows of your refrigerator.
    Christopher Kamrani, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025
  • How does the relative length of our haunting reflect our collective moral strengths and weaknesses?
    Jay Caspian Kang, New Yorker, 17 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Infections may also bring respiratory symptoms like sneezing and lethargy.
    Maria Azzurra Volpe, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Oct. 2025
  • My friend points to her husband’s lethargy as a sign of illness, though neither of them detected it at the time.
    Harriette Cole, Mercury News, 30 Sep. 2025
Noun
  • That fear can quickly turn into exhaustion.
    Preston Fore, Fortune, 16 Oct. 2025
  • Imagine reaching Mars only to collapse from exhaustion, or facing an invisible killer that warps your DNA.
    Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 16 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • The cilantro is key because its chlorophyllic sharpness slaps the stupor out of the starchy beans.
    Nina Moskowitz, Bon Appetit Magazine, 5 Oct. 2025
  • Symptoms of the more serious illness include high fever, headache, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness, vision loss, numbness and paralysis, according to the CDC.
    Madeline Heim, jsonline.com, 1 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Now, Google is rolling out a new Chrome feature on Android and desktop to help cut through notification fatigue.
    PC Magazine, PC Magazine, 12 Oct. 2025
  • Another study found that creatine can help support those with traumatic brain injuries, showing improvements in amnesia, headaches and fatigue.
    Angelica Stabile, FOXNews.com, 11 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Europe’s lassitude is heightened by internal divisions.
    HENRY FARRELL, Foreign Affairs, 19 Aug. 2025
  • As something of a companion piece to More, Jacques Deray’s summer thriller La Piscine is a far more dramatic and insidious tale of tropical desire, lassitude, and violence.
    Erik Morse, Vogue, 26 June 2025
Noun
  • In Will There Ever Be Another You, the main character struggles with an illness similar to long COVID, descending into a state of debility and psychosis as readers experience the chaos of her unraveling life.
    Brittney Melton, NPR, 26 Sep. 2025
  • The shadow of death and debility haunted American women throughout the nineteenth century.
    Jenny Noyce, JSTOR Daily, 28 June 2024

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Cite this Entry

“Languor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/languor. Accessed 19 Oct. 2025.

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