Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Lacking energy or disinclined to exert effort; listless.
- adjective Slow-moving or weak in force.
- adjective Showing little or no vitality or animation.
- adjective Characterized by or conducive to indolence or inactivity.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Drooping or flagging from weakness, fatigue, or lack of energy; indisposed to exertion; sluggish; relaxed: as, languid movements; languid breathing.
- Hence, in general
- Heavy; dull; dragging; wanting spirit or animation; listless; apathetic.
- Synonyms Faint, weary, exhausted.
- Supine, spiritless, torpid, slow.
- noun Same as
languet . - noun In organ-building, same as
language .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Drooping or flagging from exhaustion; indisposed to exertion; without animation; weak; weary; heavy; dull.
- adjective Slow in progress; tardy.
- adjective Promoting or indicating weakness or heaviness.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Lacking
enthusiasm ,energy , orstrength ;drooping orflagging fromweakness ,fatigue , or lack of energy; indisposed toexertion ;sluggish ;relaxed : as, languid movements; languid breathing. - adjective Heavy;
dull ;dragging ; wantingspirit oranimation ;listless ;apathetic .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective lacking spirit or liveliness
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Tired and languid from the morning in the sun, she found herself thrilling to his touch and half-dreamily deciding that here was a man she could love, hands and all.
CHAPTER XI 2010
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Even in languid humid climes it is the season of matings and revolutions.
Aleta Dey 1919
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Tired and languid from the morning in the sun, she found herself thrilling to his touch and half-dreamily deciding that here was a man she could love, hands and all.
Chapter 11 1913
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I find it interesting that the review says the first half was 'languid' - I thought it was rushed and choppy .. the romance is more assumed than shown, which was too bad.
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He walked some turns backwards and forwards in his room; he recalled the languid form of the fainting wretch to his mind; he wept at the recollection of her tears.
The Man of Feeling Henry Mackenzie 1788
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They might work: but the vanity of spiritual perfection was tempted to disdain the exercise of manual labor; and the industry must be faint and languid, which is not excited by the sense of personal interest.
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 3 Edward Gibbon 1765
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They might work: but the vanity of spiritual perfection was tempted to disdain the exercise of manual labor; and the industry must be faint and languid, which is not excited by the sense of personal interest.
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 3 Edward Gibbon 1765
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After a backbench query about the AV referendum, Bercow rose up again and called another languid halt.
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They might work: but the vanity of spiritual perfection was tempted to disdain the exercise of manual labor; and the industry must be faint and languid, which is not excited by the sense of personal interest.
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 1206
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The picture is full of magic; and the colour is truly a spirit dwelling on things and making them expressive to the spirit, for the delicate tones of grey, and green, and violet seem to convey to us the idea of languid sleep, and even the hawthorn-blossoms have lost their wonted brightness, and are more like the pale moonlight to which Shelley compared them, than the sheet of summer snow we see now in our English fields.
Miscellanies Oscar Wilde 1877
sonofgroucho commented on the word languid
"As love without esteem is capricious and volatile; esteem without love is languid and cold." Jonathan Swift.
December 11, 2006
knitandpurl commented on the word languid
"At Combray and in Paris, all my grandmother's friends were in the habit of greeting one another at a social gathering with as seraphic an air as if they had caught sight of someone of their acquaintance in church, at the moment of the Elevation or during a funeral, and were offering him a languid greeting which ended in prayer."
--Sodom and Gomorrah by Marcel Proust, translated by C.K. Scott Moncrieff and Terence Kilmartin, revised by D.J. Enright, p 110 of the Modern Library paperback edition
February 3, 2009
biocon commented on the word languid
The Oxford English Dictionary adds the following definition of languid: "Of style, writing, an idea, etc.: prosaic, insipid, or lifeless; mundane, lacking force or interest."
September 3, 2011
bilby commented on the word languid
Woohoo, circular etymology!
French languide, from Latin languidus, from languēre, to be languid.
September 3, 2011
mohitanand commented on the word languid
not inclined towards physical exertion or effort; slow and relaxed
As the sun beat down and the temperature climbed higher, we spent a languid week lying around the house.
October 19, 2016