'Languish' definitions:
Definition of 'languish'
From: WordNet
verb
Lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief; "After her husband died, she just pined away" [syn: pine away, waste, languish]
verb
Have a desire for something or someone who is not present; "She ached for a cigarette"; "I am pining for my lover" [syn: ache, yearn, yen, pine, languish]
verb
Become feeble; "The prisoner has be languishing for years in the dungeon" [syn: languish, fade]
Definition of 'Languish'
From: GCIDE
- Languish \Lan"guish\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Languished; p. pr. & vb. n. Languishing.] [OE. languishen, languissen, F. languir, L. languere; cf. Gr. ? to slacken, ? slack, Icel. lakra to lag behind; prob. akin to E. lag, lax, and perh. to E. slack. See -ish.]
- 1. To become languid or weak; to lose strength or animation; to be or become dull, feeble or spiritless; to pine away; to linger in a weak or deteriorating condition; to wither or fade. [1913 Webster]
- We . . . do languish of such diseases. --2 Esdras viii. 31. [1913 Webster]
- Cease, fond nature, cease thy strife, And let me languish into life. --Pope. [1913 Webster]
- For the fields of Heshbon languish. --Is. xvi. 8. [1913 Webster]
- 2. To assume an expression of weariness or tender grief, appealing for sympathy. --Tennyson.
- 3. To be neglected and unattended to; as, the proposal languished on the director's desk for months. [PJC]
- Syn: To pine; wither; fade; droop; faint. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Languish'
From: GCIDE
- Languish \Lan"guish\, v. i. To cause to droop or pine. [Obs.] --Shak. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Languish'
From: GCIDE
- Languish \Lan"guish\, n. See Languishment. [Obs. or Poetic] [1913 Webster]
- What, of death, too, That rids our dogs of languish? --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- And the blue languish of soft Allia's eye. --Pope. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'languish'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- abate,
- ablate,
- bate,
- be eaten away,
- become suicidal,
- break,
- cave in,
- collapse,
- come apart,
- come unstuck,
- conk out,
- consume,
- consume away,
- corrode,
- crumble,
- decline,
- decrease,
- deliquesce,
- desiccate,
- despair,
- despond,
- deteriorate,
- die away,
- diminish,
- disintegrate,
- dive,
- droop,
- drop,
- drop off,
- dry up,
- dwindle,
- ebb,
- erode,
- fade,
- fade away,
- fail,
- faint,
- fall,
- fall away,
- fall off,
- fizzle out,
- flag,
- give out,
- give way,
- go downhill,
- go soft,
- go to pieces,
- hit rock bottom,
- hit the skids,
- lessen,
- let up,
- lose heart,
- lose strength,
- melt away,
- peak,
- peg out,
- peter out,
- pine,
- plumb the depths,
- plummet,
- plunge,
- poop out,
- reach the depths,
- run down,
- run low,
- sag,
- sear,
- shrink,
- shrivel,
- sink,
- subside,
- tail off,
- touch bottom,
- wane,
- waste,
- waste away,
- weaken,
- wear,
- wear away,
- wear thin,
- wilt,
- wither,
- wither away,
- wizen,
- yield