stagnate

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin stāgnātus, past participle of stāgnō (“cover the land as a lake, stagnate”), from stāgnum (“pond, swamp”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈstæɡneɪt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æɡneɪt

Verb

stagnate (third-person singular simple present stagnates, present participle stagnating, simple past and past participle stagnated)

1. (intransitive) To cease motion, activity, or progress:
   1. (of water, air, etc) To cease to flow or run.

      If the water stagnates, algae will grow.

   2. (of water, air, etc) To be or become foul from standing.

      Synonym: stand

      Air stagnates in a closed room.

   3. To cease to develop, advance, or change; to become idle.
      • 1826, Walter Scott, Woodstock:

        Ready-witted tenderness […] never stagnates in vain lamentations while there is any room for hope.

      • 2003, Ernest Verity, Get Wisdom, →ISBN, page 434:

        Listening to what others say, especially to what they teach, prevents our minds stagnating, thus promoting mental growth into old age.

2. (transitive)
   1. (water, air, etc.) To stop the flowing or running of
      • 1894 August 31, “Report of the Board of Visitors of the Government Hospital for the Insane”, in 1894 Annual Reports of the Department of the Interior:

        These poor people cannot go to mountains in the later summer and the early autumn to escape the miasm, and no legislative body has any moral right by undertaking improvements, to stagnate the river marshes.

   2. To stop the development, advancement, or change of; to make idle.
      • 1971, Jearld F. Moldenhauer, “Sweeping Statements”, in Body Politic, number 1, page 16:

        The myths and values of history have determined our consciousness, have destroyed our wholeness, Mind, experienced as separate from and superior to the body has all but closed our senses and ultimately stagnated the mind.

Derived terms

• stagnant
• stagnation
• stagnative
• unstagnating

Translations

to cease activity

• Bulgarian: бездействам (bezdejstvam), застоявам се (zastojavam se)
• French: stagner (fr)
• Galician: estiñar (gl), estañar (gl)
• German: stagnieren (de)
• Greek: λιμνάζω (el) (limnázo)
• Hungarian: stagnál (hu), pang (hu), megreked (hu)
• Italian: ristagnare (it), fermare (it)
• Macedonian: застојува (zastojuva), стагнира (stagnira)
• Malayalam: കെട്ടിക്കിടക്കുക (keṭṭikkiṭakkuka)
• Māori: whakamārari
• Persian: راکد شدن (râked šodan)
• Portuguese: estagnar (pt)
• Spanish: estancar (es)
• Swedish: stagnera (sv)
• Tamil: தேங்கு (ta) (tēṅku) (of water)
• Tày: ắng, ử

Adjective

stagnate

1. Stagnant.

Anagrams

• attagens

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

stagnate

1. inflection of stagnare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

Etymology 2

Participle

stagnate f pl

1. feminine plural of stagnato

Anagrams

• stangate