to languish

Examples

• All

• "You are a very beautiful man," the snake said in a languishing voice.

  Fiction book (1995)

• And so we languish when we don't have connection.

• Love... and languish for his sake.

  A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999)

• You would be desperately in love with her in half an hour, and languish and die over her singing as much as she does in performance.

  Academic text (1998)

• Those who've supplanted languish with levity, with hope, with joy.

• Those who've supplanted languish with levity, with hope, with joy.

• Some genuinely believe that Pollard is waiting for his l'ami Zola while he languishes in prison, where many of his fellow prisoners are Black Muslims and American Nazis who threaten his life.

  Academic text (1996)

• I don't want to be the target of Montaigne's criticism of Cicero, whose speeches, he said, swollen with preparatory remarks as they are, "languish around the pot."

  Academic text (2007)

• After he left, I began to languish for the familiar comfort of our conversations.

• Many people languish for a sense of belonging when they are far from home.

Synonyms

M

to miss

vsto languish

∞ 1.0

To feel sad because someone or something is not there

is a stronger, more intense longing than merely feeling someone is absent

D

to die

vsto languish

• Informal

598 7.9

To want something very much

is similar but not the informal or colloquial form

Y

to yearn

vsto languish

92 4.9

To want something very much when you cannot have it

is about a strong desire that is not necessarily persistent over time

P

to pine

vsto languish

37 8.2

To miss someone or something very much because they are not with you

is similar but is not always long or lingering in feeling

A

to ache

vsto languish

18 4.2

To feel a strong longing for someone or something far away

is similar but generally expresses less intense, aching desire

P

to pine for

vsto languish

17 6.7

To feel very sad and want someone or something a lot

is similar but does not always include sad or mournful emotion

T

to thirst

vsto languish

8 5.2

To have a strong wish for something

is about real longing for someone or something, not mainly figurative

Y

to yen

vsto languish

8.3

To want someone or something very much

is specifically about wanting someone or something who is not present

Antonyms

C

to content

18 4.6

To make yourself or someone else satisfied with something

S

to satiate

9 7.1

To make someone feel they have had enough to eat or drink

How Yearning

to pine

37 8.2

to languish

• Literature

1 7.7

to long

114 4.5

to miss

∞ 1.0

want

27 1.0

Surface Forms

Etymology