Other forms: languished, languishing, languishes
To languish is to grow weak from being left with no attention. Languish in prison, the bill languished, languishing at the bottom.
It always implies neglect: something languishes because nobody is doing anything about it, which is why it suits prisoners, proposals and teams at the foot of a table. Note languid, meaning slow and relaxed; and that the Latin languere means to be faint or unwell.
1verblanguishTo grow weak from being left with no attention.
“Her novel languished in a drawer for years before anyone read it.”
languish is a wasting away.
Latin languere means to be faint or unwell. Languid and lax come from a related slackness.
Proto-Indo-European
*(s)leg-
Latin
languio
Middle French
languir
Middle English
languysshen
English, today
languish
From Middle English languysshen, from the present participle stem of Anglo-Norman - and Middle French languir, from Latin languio, alteration of Latin langueo (“to be faint, unwell”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA