Home › Glossary › Letter L

Languishing

Disease
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Growing weak, neglected, or depleted through prolonged suffering.

Detailed Definition
Languishing portrays a slow state of wasting away, often without the drama of a violent crisis. A languishing patient may lie in prolonged weakness, while a languishing garden, love, or town suggests neglect and fading vitality. The term has an elegiac softness, carrying both bodily exhaustion and emotional longing. In poetry, it can create a suspended atmosphere in which time lengthens and recovery remains uncertain, distant, or desired.
Example
Example in poetry:
The languishing patient watched dust drift through the afternoon light; A languishing vine curled along the wall, deprived of water and sun; The poet uses “languishing hope” to describe hope that remains alive but weak; Languishing in exile, the speaker measures time by the slow return of seasons
Additional Notes
Suggests prolonged decline through neglect or sorrow. Often contrasts with flourishing, renewal, or recovery.
Also Known As
Pining Declining Wasting
Skip to main content