languid
Part of speech: adj
noun
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *(s)leg-der.
Latin langueō
Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der.
Proto-Italic *-iðos
Latin -idus
Latin languidusder.
Middle French languidebor.
▲
Latin languidusbor.
English languid
Borrowed from Middle French languide (“fatigued, weak; apathetic, indifferent”) (modern French languide), or from its etymon Latin languidus (“faint, weak; dull; slow, sluggish; ill, sick, unwell; (figuratively) inactive, inert, listless”), from langueō (“to be faint or weak; (figuratively) to be idle, inactive, or listless”) (from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leg-, *(s)leh₁g- (“to weaken”)) + -idus (suffix meaning ‘tending to’ forming adjectives). See also the related languish.
Cognates
* Italian languido (“languid; languishing”)
* Portuguese lânguido (“languid; listless”)
* Spanish lánguido (“languid, weak”)
Inflected forms:
form: more languid
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most languid
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: languids
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: Of a person or animal, or their body functions: flagging from weakness, or inactive or weak, especially due to illness or tiredness; faint, listless.
pos: adj
examples: [T]he ſalt of vipers is alſo thought to exceed any other animal ſalt vvhatever, in giving vigour to the languid circulation, and prompting to venery.
At first she "ran a temperature" in American parlance, and I could not resist the exquisite caloricity of unexpected delights—Venus febriculosa—though it was a very languid Lolita that moaned and coughed and shivered in my embrace.
gloss: Of a person or their movement: showing a dislike for physical effort; leisurely, unhurried.
pos: adj
examples: Loth was he to move / From the imprinted couch, and when he did, / 'Twas with slow, languid paces, and face hid / In muffling hands.
A consort was found for him in the royal family of France; and her beauty and grace gave him a languid pleasure.
Val watched his back, languid and slim, till it was out of sight …
Darkness fell before we reached the Belgian frontier, and on through the night our train took her languid way.
gloss: Of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm; apathetic, listless, spiritless, unenthusiastic.
pos: adj
examples: VVith ſecret Checks her languid Soule ſhe chid / VVhich vvith ſuch violence never yet did flame; / Her Eyes hung dovvn; her Cheeks vvere over-ſpread / VVith bluſhing (but vvith ô hovv guiltleſſe!) ſhame: […]
I'll haſten to my Troops, / And fire their languid Souls with Cato’s Virtue; […]
[A] Harlot form ſoft-ſliding by, / VVith mincing ſtep, ſmall voice, and languid eye; […]
Far from any thing inflam[ma]tory, I never heard a more languid debate in this Houſe.
I was languid and dull and very bad company when I wrote the above; I am better now, to my own feelings at least, and wish I may be more agreeable.
George had an air at once swaggering and melancholy, languid and fierce.
Too lazy or too languid where only his own interests were at stake—touch his benevolence, and all the wheels of the clockwork felt the impetus of the master-spring.
gloss: Of a colour: not bright; dull, muted.
pos: adj
gloss: Of an idea, writing, etc.: dull, uninteresting.
pos: adj
examples: [S]ome very languid remarks on the probable brilliancy of the ball were all that broke, at intervals, a silence of half-an-hour, before they were joined by the master of the house.
He had written certain thin Books, all of a thin languid nature; but rational, clear; especially a Book of Fables in Verse, which are watery, but not wholly water, and have still a languid flavour in them for readers.
gloss: Of a period of time: characterized by lack of activity; pleasant and relaxed; unstressful.
pos: adj
examples: Unknown to them, when ſenſual pleaſures cloy, / To fill the languid pauſe with finer joy; […]
Toil is the portion of day, as sleep is that of night; but if there be one hour of the twenty-four which has the life of day without its labour, and the rest of night without its slumber, it is the lovely and languid hour of twilight.
gloss: Of a thing: lacking energy, liveliness, or strength; inactive, slow-moving, weak.
pos: adj
examples: languid breathing    languid movements
[T]he ſound [of bees or flies] is ſtrongeſt in dry vveather, and very vveake in rainy ſeaſon, and tovvard vvinter; for then the ayre is moyſt, and the invvard ſpirit grovving vveake, makes a languid and dumbe alliſion upon the parts.
[W]hen the languid Flames at length ſubſide, / He ſtrovvs a Bed of glovving Embers vvide, / Above the Coals the ſmoaking Fragments turns, / And ſprinkles ſacred Salt from lifted Urns; […]
As love vvithout eſteem, is volatile and capricious; eſteem vvithout love, is languid and cold.
I knew the flowers, I knew the leaves, I knew / The tearful glimmer of the languid dawn / On those long, rank, dark woodwalks drenched in dew, / Leading from lawn to lawn.
His thick, heavy, languid, lustreless black hair fell down behind his ears on to his shoulders, in that musicianlike way that is so offensive to the normal Englishman.
gloss: Synonym of languet (“a flat plate in (or opposite and below the mouth of) the pipe of an organ”).
pos: noun
examples: A new method of voicing flue pipes has recently been introduced by which a greater volume of tone is obtained without increasing the wind pressure. This is accomplished by making use of TWO languids in metal pipes with a space between the upper and lower languids. As may be required, a small hole is bored in either of the languids, or in the back of the pipe in the space between the two languids.
Antonyms: energetic
vigorous
Related words: languish
languor
languorous
Derived words: languidly
languidness
languid schizoid
unlanguid
Translations: