stagnant
- adjective
- /ˈstæɡnənt/
- After months of no progress, the team's enthusiasm began to feel stagnant.
- remain stagnant
- become stagnant
- a stagnant economy
Maybe things have been stagnant, maybe things are not exciting.
- Maybe things have been stagnant, maybe things are not exciting.
- I have felt stagnant in my faith lately.
- They're gaining weight from livers that are stagnant and sluggish.
- I'm never complacent and stagnant and just like, OK, enough's enough.
- In life you should be, you should not be stagnant.
- But inside it's very, it's very stagnant, stable air.
- Why does it feel like, you know, wages are staying stagnant, but the cost of college is going up?
- And a great story is never stagnant.
Examples
-
The air in the room felt heavy, hot, and stagnant despite blowers and air conditioners.
Fiction book (1998) -
I have felt stagnant in my faith lately.
-
Maybe things have been stagnant, maybe things are not exciting.
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And if nothing changes, it is stagnant, it is not alive.
-
Why does it feel like, you know, wages are staying stagnant, but the cost of college is going up?
-
In fact, there is evidence that student writing achievement has been stagnant for years.
Academic text (2013) -
Our plan to revitalize the town is to remove all symbols of our stagnant past.
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The general pattern has been one of emigration from poor, stagnant areas to richer and more dynamic ones.
Academic text (2008) -
The fountain in the center of the park was stagnant, green algae lapping at the rim.
Fiction book (1997) -
The air in the room felt heavy and stagnant despite the open windows.
Synonyms
Still and quiet, without movement or life, like water
Not active now but able to become active later
Not active or growing, for example in business
Stuck doing the same boring things and not making progress for a long time
Not moving or changing for a time
Being almost dead and no longer active, with little sign of life
Antonyms
Compounds
- Specialized
Lack of oxygen in parts of the body because blood moves very slowly, often in heart failure
- Specialized
When blood moves too slowly, parts of the body do not get enough oxygen
How Stagnant
Surface Forms
Morphology
stagnant = stagnate (semi-transparent) = stagn + ant
For learners who know 'stagnate', the meaning of 'stagnant' is fairly inferable, but the learned -ate/-ant alternation is not a fully productive everyday pattern.
Etymology
Stagnant comes from the old Latin word stagnum, meaning 'standing water' or 'pool'. Picture a pond that does not move — that image of still water helps you remember that something stagnant is not changing, moving, or growing.