stagnant

Meanings

1. 1adjectivecomparable

   Not flowing or moving, so that the water or air becomes dirty and smells bad.

   Grammar: Used before a noun or after be: stagnant water, the pond is stagnant.

   Patterns

   • stagnant water
   • stagnant air

   Mosquitoes breed in stagnant pools of rainwater.

   The room felt stuffy, with stagnant air and no open windows.

   A green film covered the stagnant pond.

2. 2adjectivecomparablefigurative

   Showing no growth, change or progress for a long time.

   Grammar: Used figuratively for economies, careers or ideas: a stagnant economy.

   Patterns

   • stagnant economy
   • stagnant wages

   Wages have been stagnant for a decade while prices have climbed.

   He felt stagnant in a job that never changed.

   The town's population remained stagnant after the mill closed.

Common combinations

stagnant water

Avoid drinking stagnant water.

stagnant economy

A stagnant economy offers few new jobs.

stagnant wages

Stagnant wages make it harder to save.

stagnant air

Open a window to clear out the stagnant air.

remain stagnant

Sales have remained stagnant all year.

stagnant pool

A stagnant pool formed behind the blocked drain.

Synonyms and how they differ

still

Still just means not moving and carries no sense that something has gone bad.

stale

Stale describes something that has lost freshness, such as bread or air, rather than something that no longer flows.

sluggish

Sluggish means slow and weak but still moving, while stagnant means almost no movement at all.

static

Static means unchanging, and is neutral, whereas stagnant suggests an unhealthy lack of change.

Opposites

Word family

stagnate verb

to stop developing or moving

stagnation noun

a state of no growth or movement

stagnantly adverb

in a way that shows no movement

Commonly confused: stagnant or stagger?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “stagnant”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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