languish

Meanings

1. To lose strength and become weak; to be in a state of weakness or sickness.
2. To pine away in longing for something; to have low spirits, especially from lovesickness.
3. To live in miserable or disheartening conditions.
4. To be neglected; to make little progress, be unsuccessful.
5. To make weak; to weaken, devastate.
6. To affect a languid air, especially disingenuously.

Etymology

From Middle English languysshen, from the present participle stem of Anglo-Norman and Middle French languir, from Late Latin languīre, alteration of Latin languēre (“to be faint, unwell”). : Compare languor and lax. : Cognate with slack.