languid means of a person or animal, or their body functions: flagging from weakness, or inactive or weak, especially due to illness or tiredness; faint, listless. It carries an Arena rating of 1689, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, languid ranks #3,285 of 14,297 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #6,626 of 14,361 for Most Ingenious Words, #7,082 of 14,423 for Most Sublime Words, #7,127 of 14,431 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound.
languid is pronounced /ˈlæŋɡwɪd/.
Why “languid” is a great word
Lacking energy, strength, or enthusiasm; slow and relaxed in a way that suggests weakness or disinterest. From the Latin languēre ("to be weak or faint"), via French languide, first attested in English in the 1590s. Unlike "energetic," which implies active vitality, or "vigorous," which denotes robust force, languid describes a deliberate deceleration, a conscious refusal of urgency. It is the slow arc of a ceiling fan in a humid afternoon, the heavy-lidded gaze of someone listening to a story they have heard too many times before, the wrist left dangling over the arm of a chair—a quiet, almost elegant dissipation of will into the waiting air.
Etymology
A variant of languet.
adj
- Of a person or animal, or their body functions: flagging from weakness, or inactive or weak, especially due to illness or tiredness; faint, listless.“[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.”
- Of a person or their movement: showing a dislike for physical effort; leisurely, unhurried.“Loth was he to move / From the imprinted couch, and when he did, / 'Twas with slow, languid paces, and face hid / In muffling hands.”
- Of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm; apathetic, listless, spiritless, unenthusiastic.“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: […]”
- Of a colour: not bright; dull, muted.
- Of an idea, writing, etc.: dull, uninteresting.“[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.”
- Of a period of time: characterized by lack of activity; pleasant and relaxed; unstressful.“Unknown to them, when ſenſual pleaſures cloy, / To fill the languid pauſe with finer joy; […]”
- Of a thing: lacking energy, liveliness, or strength; inactive, slow-moving, weak.“languid breathing languid movements”
noun
- Synonym of languet (“a flat plate in (or opposite and below the mouth of) the pipe of an organ”).“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.”
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.