lethargy implies such drowsiness or aversion to activity as is induced by disease, injury, or drugs.
months of lethargy followed my accident
languor suggests inertia induced by an enervating climate or illness or love.
languor induced by a tropical vacation
lassitude stresses listlessness or indifference resulting from fatigue or poor health.
a depression marked by lassitude
stupor implies a deadening of the mind and senses by shock, narcotics, or intoxicants.
lapsed into an alcoholic stupor
torpor implies a state of suspended animation as of hibernating animals but may suggest merely extreme sluggishness.
a once alert mind now in a torpor
Example Sentences
They enjoyed the languor brought on by a hot summer afternoon. They felt an indefinable languor.
Recent Examples on the WebSnyder’s take on the classic American beach home— where John Derian oyster shell wallpaper, off-white hardwood floors, and sisal rugs envelop guests in luxurious languor. Alexandra Kirkman, Forbes, 1 July 2022 Only an Octave Apart feels tinted by the shutdown — the faint pink of its languor, the deep blue of its loneliness, and the shimmering silver of our slightly out-of-control emotional release. Helen Shaw, Vulture, 24 Sep. 2021 Soon Badminton, released from its lockdown languor, was teeming with masked members of the crew. Georgia Beaufort, Vogue, 28 July 2021 Everything, always, is drenched in heavy yellow sunlight, as if the nation were basking in the languor of eternal late afternoon. Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 27 Mar. 2021 And yet Irene is mesmerized by Clare’s blond hair, her beautiful shoulders, her languor. Hilton Als, The New Yorker, 22 Feb. 2021 The couch meant languor, stagnation and self-loathing. Alli Harvey, Anchorage Daily News, 2 May 2020 Where the summer anthem has remained an inflexible proposition—fossilized into the nation’s collective memory during a period of intense languor, defined mostly by an appetite for maximalism—fall is best described as a mood.Wired, 15 Oct. 2019 August, for all its languor, is the urgent beginning of the end. Mary Schmich, chicagotribune.com, 2 Aug. 2019 See More
Word History
Etymology
Middle English, from Anglo-French langur, from Latin languor, from languēre