Languish vs Yearn - What's the difference?
languish | yearn |
To lose strength and become weak; to be in a state of weakness or sickness.
* Bible, 2 Esdras viii. 31
To pine away in longing for something; to have low spirits, especially from lovesickness.
To live in miserable or disheartening conditions.
To be neglected; to make little progress, be unsuccessful.
(obsolete) To make weak; to weaken, devastate.
* 1815 , Jane Austen, Emma
To long, have a strong desire (for something).
* All I yearn for is a simple life.
To long for something in the past with melancholy, nostalgically
To be pained or distressed; to grieve; to mourn.
* Shakespeare
To pain; to grieve; to vex.
* Shakespeare
* Shakespeare
In lang=en terms the difference between languish and yearn
is that languish is to be neglected; to make little progress, be unsuccessful while yearn is to pain; to grieve; to vex.As verbs the difference between languish and yearn
is that languish is to lose strength and become weak; to be in a state of weakness or sickness while yearn is to long, have a strong desire (for something) or yearn can be (scotland) to curdle, as milk.languish
English
Verb
(es)- We do languish of such diseases.
- He languished without his girlfriend
- He languished in prison for years
- The case languished for years before coming to trial.
- He is an excellent young man, and will suit Harriet exactly: it will be an "exactly so," as he says himself; but he does sigh and languish , and study for compliments rather more than I could endure as a principal.
- (Tennyson)
yearn
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) giernan, from (etyl) .Verb
(en verb)- Falstaff he is dead, and we must yearn therefore.
- It would yearn your heart to see it.
- It yearns me not if men my garments wear.