languish

1. (intransitive) To lose strength and become weak; to be in a state of weakness or sickness.Examples: "We […] do languish of such diseases."intransitive

2. (intransitive) To pine away in longing for something; to have low spirits, especially from lovesickness.Examples: "He languished without his girlfriend."intransitive

3. (intransitive) To live in miserable or disheartening conditions.Examples: "He languished in prison for years."; "An elderly Hungarian found languishing in a Russian mental hospital could finally be allowed to return home - 55 years after being taken prisoner by the Russian Army."Synonyms: rotintransitive

4. (intransitive) To be neglected; to make little progress, be unsuccessful.Examples: "The case languished for years before coming to trial."intransitive

5. (transitive, obsolete) To make weak; to weaken, devastate.obsoletetransitive

6. (intransitive, now rare) To affect a languid air, especially disingenuously.Examples: "He is an excellent young man, and will suit Harriet exactly: it will be an "exactly so," as he says himself; but he does sigh and languish, and study for compliments rather more than I could endure as a principal."; "His bowstring slackened, languid Love, / Leaning his cheek upon his hand, / Droops both his wings, regarding thee, / And so would languish evermore, / Serene, imperial Eleänore."archaicintransitive