moribund
/ˈmɒrɪbʌnd
/adjective
1(Of a person) at the point of death: on examination she was moribund and dehydrated...
- Ideally patients will be enrolled before they are moribund and on ‘death's door’.
- Most of the moribund patients recovered due to his treatment.
- We took the child out and as I looked at it I realised the kid was moribund.
Synonyms
dying, expiring, on one's deathbed, near death, near the end, at death's door, breathing one's last, fading/sinking fast, not long for this world, failing rapidly, on one's last legs, in extremis
informal with one foot in the grave
1.1(Of a thing) in terminal decline; lacking vitality or vigour: the moribund commercial property market...
- A moribund economy and the decline of traditionally unionized industries eroded the base of the labor movement.
- Many investment managers feel stock markets have been moribund for so long that the odds favour a gradual improvement over the next few years.
- Foreign reserves are desperately low, the bond market moribund.
Synonyms
declining, in decline, on the decline, waning, dying, stagnating, stagnant, decaying, crumbling, atrophying, obsolescent, on its last legs
informal on the way out
Derivatives
moribundity
- Perhaps not in this election, and despite the moribundity of the political system, voters may eventually be able to bring some life to Japanese democracy.
- The current moribundity of the Party has its roots in the past years, not in recent months.
- Native languages continued to move toward moribundity.
Origin
Early 18th century: from Latin moribundus, from mori 'to die'.