Adjacent Words

Stagnant definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

STAGNANT, a. [L., to be without, a flowing motion.]
1. Not flowing; not running in a current or stream; as a stagnant lake or pond; stagnant blood in the veins.
2. Motionless; still; not agitated; as water quiet and stagnant.
The gloomy slumber of the stagnant soul.
3. Not active; dull; not brisk; as, business is stagnant.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: not circulating or flowing; "dead air"; "dead water"; "stagnant water" [syn: dead, stagnant]
2: not growing or changing; without force or vitality [syn: stagnant, moribund]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Date: 1666 1. a. not flowing in a current or stream <stagnant water> b. stale <long disuse had made the air stagnant and foul — Bram Stoker> 2. not advancing or developing <a stagnant economy> • stagnancy noun • stagnantly adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 (of liquid) motionless, having no current. 2 (of life, action, the mind, business, a person) showing no activity, dull, sluggish. Derivatives: stagnancy n. stagnantly adv. Etymology: L stagnare stagnant- f. stagnum pool

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Stagnant Stag"nant, a. [L. stagnans, -antis, p. pr. of stagnare. See Stagnate.] 1. That stagnates; not flowing; not running in a current or steam; motionless; hence, impure or foul from want of motion; as, a stagnant lake or pond; stagnant blood in the veins. 2. Not active or brisk; dull; as, business in stagnant. That gloomy slumber of the stagnant soul. --Johnson. For him a stagnant life was not worth living. --Palfrey.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. If something such as a business or society is stagnant, there is little activity or change. He is seeking advice on how to revive the stagnant economy... Mass movements are often a factor in the awakening and renovation of stagnant societies. ADJ [disapproval] 2. Stagnant water is not flowing, and therefore often smells unpleasant and is dirty. ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Motionless, standing, close, quiet. 2. Sluggish, inactive, inert, torpid, dull, heavy.

Moby Thesaurus

abeyant, apathetic, benumbed, blase, bored, cataleptic, catatonic, contaminated, contemplative, dead, debilitated, dirty, do-nothing, dopey, dormant, droopy, drugged, dull, enervated, exanimate, filthy, flat, foul, groggy, heavy, hebetudinous, idle, immobile, in abeyance, in suspense, inactive, inanimate, inert, jaded, lackadaisical, laissez-aller, laissez-faire, languid, languorous, latent, leaden, lethargic, lifeless, listless, logy, lumpish, meditative, moribund, motionless, neuter, neutral, numb, paralytic, paralyzed, passive, phlegmatic, polluted, pooped, procrastinating, putrefied, putrescent, putrid, quiescent, quiet, quietist, quietistic, sated, sedentary, slack, sleeping, sleepy, slow, sluggish, slumbering, smoldering, somnolent, stagnating, stale, standing, standpat, static, stationary, still, stultified, supine, suspended, tame, torpid, unaroused, unmoving, vegetable, vegetative, wan, weary, world-weary