To languish means to weaken or fade away from being neglected, stuck, or deprived of what you need. When plants languish in a dark corner, they droop and lose their color because they're not getting enough sunlight. When a talented musician languishes in a job that never uses her skills, she feels her abilities slowly fading from lack of practice and opportunity.

The word carries a sense of slow decline, not sudden disaster. A forgotten homework assignment might languish at the bottom of your backpack for weeks. A prisoner languishing in a cell suffers from confinement and isolation. When someone says a project is languishing, they mean it's stuck, making no progress, and slowly losing momentum and energy.

You might feel yourself languishing on a long, boring car ride with nothing to do, or languish through a hot summer afternoon with no plans. The word suggests not just discomfort but a gradual draining away of vitality or hope. Things that languish don't disappear immediately: they fade slowly, losing strength and spirit over time, like a campfire nobody tends until it burns down to cold ashes.