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Revive vs Languish - What's the difference?

revive | languish |

In lang=en terms the difference between revive and languish

is that revive is to restore or reduce to its natural or metallic state while languish is to be neglected; to make little progress, be unsuccessful.

As verbs the difference between revive and languish

is that revive is to return to life; to recover life or strength; to live anew; to become reanimated or reinvigorated while languish is to lose strength and become weak; to be in a state of weakness or sickness.

revive

English

(Webster 1913)

Verb

(reviv)
  • To return to life; to recover life or strength; to live anew; to become reanimated or reinvigorated.
    • The Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into again, and he revived . 1 Kings xvii. 22.
    The dying puppy was revived by a soft hand.
    Her grandmother refused to be revived if she lost consciousness
  • To recover from a state of oblivion, obscurity, neglect, or depression; as, classical learning revived in the fifteenth century.
    • In recent years, The Manx language has been revived after dying out and is now taught in some schools on the Isle of Man.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=June 19 , author=Phil McNulty , title=England 1-0 Ukraine , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=The incident immediately revived the debate about goal-line technology, with a final decision on whether it is introduced expected to be taken in Zurich on 5 July.}}
  • To restore, or bring again to life; to reanimate.
    • Hopefully this new paint job should revive the surgery waiting room
  • To raise from coma, languor, depression, or discouragement; to bring into action after a suspension.
  • Hence, to recover from a state of neglect or disuse; as, to revive letters or learning.
  • To renew in the mind or memory; to bring to recollection; to recall attention to; to reawaken.
    • The Harry Potter films revived the world's interest in wizardry
  • To recover its natural or metallic state, as a metal.
  • To restore or reduce to its natural or metallic state
    • revive a metal after calcination.

    Synonyms

    * rediscover * resurrect * renew

    Derived terms

    * revival * revivable * unrevivable

    languish

    English

    Verb

    (es)
  • To lose strength and become weak; to be in a state of weakness or sickness.
  • * Bible, 2 Esdras viii. 31
    • We do languish of such diseases.
  • To pine away in longing for something; to have low spirits, especially from lovesickness.
    • He languished without his girlfriend
  • To live in miserable or disheartening conditions.
    • He languished in prison for years
  • To be neglected; to make little progress, be unsuccessful.
    • The case languished for years before coming to trial.
  • (obsolete) To make weak; to weaken, devastate.
  • * 1815 , Jane Austen, Emma
    • 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)

    Related terms

    * languid * languor * languorous