Standard Lemma guide

languid

adj · noun · 9 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈlæŋɡwɪd/ Received Pronunciation, General American, weak vowel distinction
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • /ˈleɪ̯ŋɡwɪd/ US, Canada, weak vowel distinction
  • /ˈlɛ̃ŋɡwɪd/ US, Canada, weak vowel distinction
  • /ˈlæŋɡwəd/ General American, Australian, weak vowel merger
  • /ˈleɪ̯ŋɡwəd/ US, Canada, weak vowel merger
  • /ˈlɛ̃ŋɡwəd/ US, Canada, weak vowel merger
  • New-Zealand: /ˈlɛ̝ŋɡwɘd/
  • rhymes with -æŋɡwɪd
  • CMU ARPABET: L AE1 NG G W AH0 D Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of a person or animal, or their body functions: flagging from weakness, or inactive or weak, especially due to illness or tiredness; faint, listless.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bleareyed, bleary, bleary-eyed, bone-tired, bushed, tired out, spent, wrecked, drained, dog-tired, dog-weary, exhausted, fatigued, forfairn, forlagen, forworn, heavyeyed, jaded, languid, enervated, out of gas, played out, run-down, shattered, shot, sleepy, stuffed, tired, washed out, weariful, weary, whacked, whipped, worn, worn out, banjaxed, beat, buggered, busted, dead tired, cream crackered, done, done in, done up, fagged out, fried, fucked, gassed, jiggered, Kerry Packered, knacked, knackered, nadgered, pooped, pooped out, pumped, shagged, shagged out, tuckered, tuckered out, wappened, zonked, anemic, breakable, broken-down, damaged, debilitated, decrepit, delicate, dickless, effete, enfeebled, faint, feeble, flimsy, fragile, frail, harmed, hurt, impaired, impotent, infirm, injured, low, powerless, prostrated, prostrate, puny, raddled, resistless, sapped, slightsoft, softened, susceptible, tender, torpid, unresistant, vincible, vulnerable, wasted, weak, weakened, weedy, wimpy, yielding

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Of a person or their movement: showing a dislike for physical effort; leisurely, unhurried.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: hasteless, unhasty, unrushed

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

Of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm; apathetic, listless, spiritless, unenthusiastic.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: adiaphroistic, apathetic, apathistical, blasé, blithe, deaf, cool, shiftless, dispassionate, dull, enervated, gallionic, halfhearted, heartless, impassive, ineffervescible, insouciant, indifferent, insensible, jaded, languid, languorous, Laodicean, lethargic, listless, lackadaisical, lotophagous, lukewarm, meh, mopey, nonchalant, nonplussed, otiose, phlegmatic, pococurante, spiritless, supine, tepid, torpid, torpedinous, unaroused, uncaring, unconcerned, unenthusiastic, unimpressible, uninterested, unlively, unmoved, untouched, unzealous, world-weary

Antonyms: none provided

4

adj

Meaning 4

Of a colour: not bright; dull, muted.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: dark, deep, dull, dusky, full, fuscous, languid, muted, inky, intense, saturated, somber, swarthy

Antonyms: none provided

5

adj

Meaning 5

Of an idea, writing, etc.: dull, uninteresting.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: banal, basic, beat, blah, commonplace, bland, boring, cold, colourless, corny, drab, stuffy, dreich, drowsy, dull, dull as dishwater, flat, heavy going, ho-hum, humdrum, insipid, lackluster, lame, languid, lifeless, longsome, monotonous, mundane, no fun at parties, plain, plodding, prosaic, prosy, pedantic, pedestrian, static, straightforward, snoozeworthy, soporific, tedious, uncool, wan, weaksauce, wooden, uninteresting, stodgy, vapid, vanilla

Antonyms: none provided

6

adj

Meaning 6

Of a period of time: characterized by lack of activity; pleasant and relaxed; unstressful.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: easygoing, leisurely, unhectic

Antonyms: none provided

7

adj

Meaning 7

Of a thing: lacking energy, liveliness, or strength; inactive, slow-moving, weak.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • languid breathing languid movements

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: abeyant, at rest, cessant, dormant, dull, fallow, idle, inactive, inert, languid, latent, nonactive, passive, quiescent, silent, sedent, sedentary, slow, suspended, torpid, unactive, unbusy, unemployed, unoccupied

Antonyms: none provided

8

noun

Meaning 8

Synonym of languet (“a flat plate in (or opposite and below the mouth of) the pipe of an organ”).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: language, languet

Antonyms: none provided

9

adjective satellite

Meaning 9

lacking spirit or liveliness

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a lackadaisical attempt
  • a languid mood
  • a languid wave of the hand
  • a hot languorous afternoon

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: dreamy, lackadaisical, languorous

Antonyms: none provided

History

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”)

A variant of languet.

Across languages

Translations

59 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Hungarian: bágyadt — of a person or animal, or their body functions: flagging from weakness, or inactive or weak, especially due to illness or tiredness — see also faint, listless
  • Irish: meirbh — of a person or animal, or their body functions: flagging from weakness, or inactive or weak, especially due to illness or tiredness — see also faint, listless
  • Macedonian: малаксан (malaksan) — of a person or animal, or their body functions: flagging from weakness, or inactive or weak, especially due to illness or tiredness — see also faint, listless
  • Serbo-Croatian: малàксао — of a person or animal, or their body functions: flagging from weakness, or inactive or weak, especially due to illness or tiredness — see also faint, listless
  • Serbo-Croatian: malàksao — of a person or animal, or their body functions: flagging from weakness, or inactive or weak, especially due to illness or tiredness — see also faint, listless
  • Azerbaijani: ölüvay — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Bulgarian: отпуснат (otpusnat) — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Bulgarian: вял (vjal) — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Catalan: lànguid — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Chinese Mandarin: 無精打采的 /无精打采的 (wújīngdǎcǎide) — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Finnish: veltto — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • French: languide — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • French: faiblard — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • French: faible — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • West-Frisian: têd — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • German: träge — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • German: matt — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Hindi: आलसी (ālsī) — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Hungarian: bágyadt — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Irish: marbhánta — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Italian: languido — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Italian: atono — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Japanese: 気だるい (kedarui) — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Japanese: 物憂い (monoui) — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Japanese: 弱々しい (yowayowashii) — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Latin: languidus — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Māori: haumāruru — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Māori: toupiore — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Norman: langouotheux — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Persian: فشل (fašal) — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Persian: وارفته (vârafte) — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Persian: سست (sost) — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Polish: ociężały — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Polish: ospały — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Polish: słaby — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Portuguese: lânguido — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Romanian: lânced — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Russian: то́мный (tómnyj) — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Russian: вя́лый (vjályj) — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Serbo-Croatian: мли̏тав — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Serbo-Croatian: mlȉtav — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Spanish: lánguido — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Ottoman Turkish: كوشك (gevşek) — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Ottoman Turkish: مخمور (mahmur) — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Ukrainian: кволий (kvolyj) — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Uzbek: suzuk — of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm
  • Bulgarian: безжизнен (bezžiznen) — of an idea, writing, etc.: dull, uninteresting
  • French: apathique — of an idea, writing, etc.: dull, uninteresting
  • Japanese: 緩慢 (kanman) — of an idea, writing, etc.: dull, uninteresting
  • Japanese: のろい (noroi) — of an idea, writing, etc.: dull, uninteresting
  • Russian: апати́чный (apatíčnyj) — of an idea, writing, etc.: dull, uninteresting
  • Russian: безжи́зненный (bezžíznennyj) — of an idea, writing, etc.: dull, uninteresting
  • Russian: вя́лый (vjályj) — of an idea, writing, etc.: dull, uninteresting
  • Serbo-Croatian: апа̀тичан — of an idea, writing, etc.: dull, uninteresting
  • Serbo-Croatian: бе̏животан — of an idea, writing, etc.: dull, uninteresting
  • Serbo-Croatian: мли̏тав — of an idea, writing, etc.: dull, uninteresting
  • Serbo-Croatian: apàtičan — of an idea, writing, etc.: dull, uninteresting
  • Serbo-Croatian: bȅživotan — of an idea, writing, etc.: dull, uninteresting
  • Serbo-Croatian: mlȉtav — of an idea, writing, etc.: dull, uninteresting