Languid

 WORD OF THE DAY

languid / adjective / LANG-gwid

Definition
1a: drooping or flagging from or as if from exhaustion
1b: weak
2a: sluggish in character or disposition
2b: listless
3a: lacking force or quickness of movement
3b: slow

Examples
“Wölffer’s rosés—the company now has eight varieties—have become a fixture at backyard parties and beach picnics, a symbol of languid days on Long Island’s South Fork.”
— Alex Williams, The New York Times, 27 June 2022

Few things are more comforting than watching languid actor Jeff Goldblum (best known for playing Dr. Malcolm in the Jurassic Park movies) shrug his way through a series of short documentaries about different subcultures and industries.
— WIRED, 23 Sep. 2022

Did You Know?
Lack, lack, lack. Languid is all about lack.
Depending on its context, the word can suggest a lack of strength, lack of energy, or lack of activity.
The lack-of-strength sense of languid describes the kind of sluggishness that often results from fatigue or weakness, as in “the illness left her feeling languid.”
The lack-of-energy sense is synonymous with listless, and often describes someone’s character or disposition as a result of dissatisfaction or sadness.
Lastly, there’s the lack-of-activity sense of languid, as in “investors are worried about the languid stock market.” So languid is a total bummer, right?
Not so (ahem) fast! Sometimes it’s a good thing to dillydally, and languid has also long been used to describe stretches of time—think afternoons, days, summers, etc.—that are relatively and perhaps pleasantly chill.