Jump to content

stagnation

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Stagnation

English

[edit]
WOTD – 22 January 2026
A pool of stagnant water in the Ivory Coast following a flood. Stagnation (sense 1.1) of water can be dangerous as disease-carrying insects such as mosquitoes can breed in it.

Etymology

[edit]

From stagnate +‎ -ation (suffix denoting an action or process, or its result),[1] Stagnate is derived from stagnāt-, the participial stem of Latin stagnāre, the present active infinitive of stāgnō (“of waters: to cover the land as a lake, to become a pool, to stagnate”), from stāgnum (“body of standing water (lake, swamp, etc.)”)[2] (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂g- (“to drip; to seep”)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs).

Pronunciation

[edit]

Noun

[edit]

stagnation (countable and uncountable, plural stagnations)

  1. (uncountable) The state of being stagnant; (countable) an instance of this.
    Synonyms: (obsolete) restagnation, (archaic, rare) stagnance, stagnancy
    2. (uncountable) The state of lacking flow or motion, usually causing a lack of freshness or health; (countable) an instance of this.
      Factors known to encourage the growth of harmful bacteria inside cooling systems include the stagnation of the water.
      • 1671, Robert Boyle, “Relations about the Bottom of the Sea. The Third Section.”, in Tracts […]. About the Cosmicall Qualities of Things. […], London: […] W[illiam] H[all] for Ric[hard] Davis, →OCLC, page 16:
        [S]ometimes at the Bottom of the Deep vvaters there ſeem'd to be a ſtagnation of the Sea for a great depth, ſo that till ſuch a height they [divers] could riſe directly upvvards, but that at other heights they vvould be carried avvay by the leſſe deep-vvaters; ſo as to be found vvhen they came to emerge a great vvay off from that point of the ſurface vvhich vvas perpendicular to that place at the Bottom, vvhence they began to aſcend.
      • a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “Sermon L. Of Industry in General.”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volume III, London: A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1831, →OCLC, page 275:
        If the water runneth, it holdeth clear, sweet, and fresh; but stagnation turneth it into a noisome puddle: […]
      • 1833, [Frederick Marryat], chapter VIII, in Peter Simple. […], volume III, London: Saunders and Otley, […], published 1834, →OCLC, page 112:
        The heat was excessive, and unaccountable; not the slightest breath of wind moved in the heavens, or below; no clouds to be seen, and the stars were obscured by a sort of mist: there appeared a total stagnation in the elements.
      • 1892 January 15, “Material Medica and Pharmacy. Digitaline and Iodide of Potassium.”, in Cha[rle]s W. Moore, editor, The Pacific Record of Medicine and Surgery. A Monthly Résumé of Medical and Pharmaceutical Progress, volume VI, number 6, San Francisco, Calif.: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 175, column 1:
        [A]n actual progress of the blood in the pulmonary vessels is brought about [by potassium iodide], a phenomenon explaining the incontested superiority of iodine in all dyspnoeas, which have their origin in a disturbed state of the chemism of respiration, as well as in those of a nervous, arithmatic or cardiacal nature, the latter being connected with blood stagnations in the pulmonary vessels.
      • 1976 November, Donald F. Gatz; Stanley A. Changnon, Jr., “Meteorological Influences on Air Pollutant Concentrations”, in Environmental Status of the Lake Michigan Region (ANL/ES-40 vol. 8), volume 8 (Atmospheric Environment of the Lake Michigan Region), Argonne, Ill.: Argonne National Laboratory for the U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration, →OCLC, page 96:
        Large-scale weather conditions known as stagnations (slow-moving high-pressure systems) are characterised by a combination of low wind speed and very limjited vertical mixing. Furthermore, they can last for days, leading to very serious buildups of pollutant concentrations.
    3. (figurative, uncountable) The state of lacking activity, change or progress, or excitement in an unhealthy manner; inactivity, staleness; (countable) an instance of this.
      The general concern about industrial stagnation inspired an overhaul of the patent system.
      1. (economics, uncountable) The state of low or no growth in an economy; (countable) an instance of this.
        • 1930, John Maynard Keynes, “Some Special Aspects of the Credit Cycle”, in A Treatise on Money […], volume I (The Pure Theory of Money), London: Macmillan and Co., […], →OCLC, book IV (The Dynamics of the Price-level), page 293:
          [T]he Credit Cycle, though guilty of disastrous excesses and grave crimes, has a part to play in a progressive society, and […] an attempt to check it altogether might produce stagnation as well as stability.

Derived terms

[edit]
[edit]

Translations

[edit]
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

References

[edit]
  1. ^ “stagnation, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2025; “stagnation, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ “stagnate, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2025; “stagnate, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

[edit]

Anagrams

[edit]

Danish

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

From stagnere +‎ -tion.

Noun

[edit]

stagnation c (singular definite stagnationen, plural indefinite stagnationer)

  1. stagnation

Declension

[edit]
Declension of stagnation
common
gender 		singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative stagnation stagnationen stagnationer stagnationerne
genitive stagnations stagnationens stagnationers stagnationernes
[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]

French

[edit]

Pronunciation

[edit]

Noun

[edit]

stagnation f (plural stagnations)

  1. stagnation

Further reading

[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=stagnation&oldid=89683575"