stagnating

adjective

as in lifeless

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for stagnating
  1. lifeless
  2. unproductive
  3. fallow
  4. dormant
  5. quiescent
  6. inert
  7. idle
  8. nonproductive
Adjective
  • Tyronne Brazille, 50, was pulled over by police in Memphis for a traffic violation on Thursday when officers found the lifeless body of his wife, Lanessa Bradford, 50, in the passenger seat of his vehicle with a gunshot wound, WREG reported.
    — Landon Mion, FOXNews.com, 17 Aug. 2026
  • The Yankees, meanwhile, didn’t score again after Grisham’s homer, continuing an extended stretch that has seen the Bombers’ lifeless lineup repeatedly spoil stellar starting pitching.
    — Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 15 Aug. 2026
Definition of lifeless
Adjective
  • The most important driver is the unit economics of campus recruitment + making inexperienced, unproductive new workers productive.
    — Ryan Craig, Forbes.com, 8 Aug. 2026
  • The new class of legislators will inherit a body marked by a tense and often unproductive last few years, including budgetary delays and accusations of poor communication and transparency.
    — Ilana Arougheti, Kansas City Star, 5 Aug. 2026
Definition of unproductive
Adjective
  • The farm system, which looked so fallow a year ago, is showing many of the same signs of revitalization as the parent club.
    — David Aldridge, New York Times, 4 July 2026
  • In recent days, the property remained largely fallow, other than the thick underbrush and countless weeds that choked the site, which is about one-third of an acre in size, this news organization’s direct observation of the property shows.
    — George Avalos, Mercury News, 24 June 2026
Definition of fallow
Adjective
  • Hooping now has become a form of reclamation, an outlet for recovering a childhood joy that sat dormant for years.
    — Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 13 Aug. 2026
  • The development had gone dormant by the time DeFaria was brought in by his old colleagues to revive the project.
    — David Canfield, HollywoodReporter, 12 Aug. 2026
Definition of dormant
Adjective
  • Experts believe the volcano is currently in a quiescent state, but researchers monitor it around the clock.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 20 July 2026
  • For galaxies with a quiescent supermassive black hole, astronomers measure how quickly the stars tightly packed near the center of the galaxy are traveling.
    — Mary Ogborn, The Conversation, 25 June 2026
Definition of quiescent
Adjective
  • And yet, more often than not, modern-day biopic films are disappointments, inert movies that fall into the same narrative traps, leaving audiences cold.
    — Chris O'Falt, IndieWire, 8 Aug. 2026
  • Her face is painted smoothly, almost inert, while the water around her breaks into choppy strokes.
    — Carmen Rosenberg-Miller, Artforum, 6 Aug. 2026
Definition of inert
Adjective
  • Most humanoid models run for up to four hours while sitting idle.
    — Elaine Yu,Anniek Bao, CNBC, 14 Aug. 2026
  • Hundreds of laymen, actuated solely by idle curiosity, received little more than a crick in the neck for their pains.
    — AJ Willingham, AJC.com, 12 Aug. 2026
Definition of idle
Adjective
  • North Dakota adopted a bill last year requiring a legislative council to study the feasibility of using nonproductive wells to generate geothermal power.
    — Maria Gallucci, Wired News, 16 May 2026
  • Returning nonproductive properties to the tax rolls, creating jobs and boosting the quality of life are only some of the benefits of redeveloping troubled properties.
    — Doug Ross, Chicago Tribune, 3 May 2026
Definition of nonproductive
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.

Browse Nearby Words

stagnant
stagnating
stagnation
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Cite this Entry

“Stagnating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stagnating. Accessed 19 Aug. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on stagnating

Nglish: Translation of stagnating for Spanish Speakers

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