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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. arrested
Adjective
  • There’s so much premeditation and passion into doing that, and to actually play that with no music and just the sound and the banality of a lifeless body being hit by some blunt instrument is very viscerally upsetting.
    — Jackie Strause, HollywoodReporter, 23 Sep. 2026
  • The offense was lifeless, the stats were ugly, and NFL legends are running out of patience with the former golden boy.
    — Alejandro Avila OutKick, FOXNews.com, 21 Sep. 2026
Definition of lifeless
Adjective
  • The unit has been unproductive defending the run and bitten hard by the injury bug.
    — Chris Biderman, Sacbee.com, 23 Sep. 2026
  • Story’s unproductive 10 rehab games with Triple-A Worcester, coupled with the rise of top prospect Franklin Arias, a shortstop raking at Triple A, created an echo chamber of angst about Story returning and underperforming.
    — Jen McCaffrey, New York Times, 16 Sep. 2026
Definition of unproductive
Adjective
  • During the Covid pandemic, the staff voluntarily used their fallow time to repair some of the old pilgrim trails winding through the forest behind.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Another novel where the author explores how to cultivate the mind, body, home, and social circle in order to propagate creativity, and wonders what happens when any or all elements become fallow or diseased.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of fallow
Adjective
  • Meanwhile, the current owner of the inn took her children to the farmers market in the square across from the dormant building every Saturday throughout their childhoods.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 23 Sep. 2026
  • Apply a summer-weight dormant oil to your pachysandra during the crawler stages for more control.
    — Tim Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 20 Sep. 2026
Definition of dormant
Adjective
  • As in The History of New York, the Dutch patriarchs are invariably idle and quiescent.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 11 Sep. 2026
  • Experts believe the volcano is currently in a quiescent state, but researchers monitor it around the clock.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 20 July 2026
Definition of quiescent
Adjective
  • Everything and nothing seems to happen in the curiously inert action drama Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, which stars Mahershala Ali as a philosophical Black Muslim hitman trying to raise three children after the death of his wife.
    — Damon Wise, Deadline, 13 Sep. 2026
  • But nice photography is not a sturdy enough basis for a narrative film, as so many lovely but inert art-house movies have shown us in recent years.
    — Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 9 Sep. 2026
Definition of inert
Adjective
  • In comparison, when a bacterium lives somewhere where resources are abundant, its sporulation genes sit idle and unactivated.
    — Canan Karakoç, The Conversation, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Field agents endure inefficient routing and prolonged idle times between assignments, and passengers experience frustrating delays at gates or baggage claims.
    — Justin Newell, Forbes.com, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of idle
Adjective
  • In the case of the arrested teenager, who was detained in early August, agents pulled him and another man out of a truck in the 7-Eleven parking lot.
    — Seth Klamann, Denver Post, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of arrested
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 1 Oct. 2026.

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