stagnating

adjective

as in lifeless

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for stagnating
  1. lifeless
  2. unproductive
  3. fallow
  4. dormant
  5. quiescent
  6. inert
  7. idle
  8. arrested
Adjective
  • And at the same time, that image of Faye’s blue face, glazed-over eyes, and lifeless stare is going to follow me for a while.
    — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 1 Oct. 2026
  • There’s so much premeditation and passion into doing that, and to actually play that with no music and just the sound and the banality of a lifeless body being hit by some blunt instrument is very viscerally upsetting.
    — Jackie Strause, HollywoodReporter, 23 Sep. 2026
Definition of lifeless
Adjective
  • So being an idea-creation machine can be fun but unproductive.
    — Mohan Nair, Forbes.com, 28 Sep. 2026
  • The unit has been unproductive defending the run and bitten hard by the injury bug.
    — Chris Biderman, Sacbee.com, 23 Sep. 2026
Definition of unproductive
Adjective
  • During the Covid pandemic, the staff voluntarily used their fallow time to repair some of the old pilgrim trails winding through the forest behind.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Another novel where the author explores how to cultivate the mind, body, home, and social circle in order to propagate creativity, and wonders what happens when any or all elements become fallow or diseased.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of fallow
Adjective
  • The administration has also intervened on behalf of Sable Offshore, allowing the company to revive a long-dormant pipeline off the coast of Santa Barbara despite objections from California officials and regulators.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 29 Sep. 2026
  • During fall, many of the plants in your garden shed their leaves and go dormant in preparation for colder winter weather.
    — Abby Monteil, The Spruce, 24 Sep. 2026
Definition of dormant
Adjective
  • As in The History of New York, the Dutch patriarchs are invariably idle and quiescent.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 11 Sep. 2026
  • Experts believe the volcano is currently in a quiescent state, but researchers monitor it around the clock.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 20 July 2026
Definition of quiescent
Adjective
  • The footpad cannot extract energy from chemically inert surfaces such as plastic, glass, soil, or organic tissue, prompting the team to add a small onboard supercapacitor to buffer power across dead zones.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Technicians spent weeks running inert dummy rods through the cutters to verify tolerances before introducing live radioactive fuel.
    — Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 24 Sep. 2026
Definition of inert
Adjective
  • Treasurers want to reduce idle balances and manage liquidity more efficiently.
    — Pratik Khowala, Forbes.com, 6 Oct. 2026
  • For now, though, the band’s tour bus is sitting idle in the middle of a Planet Fitness parking lot in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Shepherd uses the safe space to open up more.
    — Selena Fragassi, SPIN, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of idle
Adjective
  • In the case of the arrested teenager, who was detained in early August, agents pulled him and another man out of a truck in the 7-Eleven parking lot.
    — Seth Klamann, Denver Post, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of arrested
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

stagnant
stagnating
stagnation
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Cite this Entry

“Stagnating.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stagnating. Accessed 9 Oct. 2026.

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