stagnation

plural stagnations

1. The state of being stagnant; (countable) an instance of this.
   1. uncountableThe 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.

      5 more examples

      [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.

      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

      If the water runneth, it holdeth clear, sweet, and fresh; but stagnation turneth it into a noisome puddle: […]

      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

      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.

      1833, [Frederick Marryat], chapter VIII, in Peter Simple. […], volume III, London: Saunders and Otley, […], published 1834, →OCLC, page 112

      [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.

      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

      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.

      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

      Synonyms: restagnation, stagnance, stagnancy

   2. figurativelyuncountableThe 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.

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      I am now in the sixty-fifth year of my age, and having been the greater part of my days a man of pleasure, the decay of my faculties is a stagnation of my life.

      1712 January 7 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “THURSDAY, December 28, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 260; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 296

      Yes, I have a case. After a month of trivialities and stagnation the wheels move once more.

      1922 February–March, Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Problem of Thor Bridge”, in The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, published June 1927, →OCLC, page 172

      Synonyms: restagnation, stagnance, stagnancy

   3. figurativelyuncountableeconomicsThe state of low or no growth in an economy; (countable) an instance of this.

      [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.

      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

      Synonyms: restagnation, stagnance, stagnancy