SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
sluggish
adjective
Moving, responding, or developing with little speed or energy.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Slow and lacking energy
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topSluggish can describe movement, business, or response. Slothful blames laziness; inactive describes little activity without its cause.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See sluggish in use
After the storm, the usually lively stream became sluggish and shallow.
Late in the afternoon, the old music player became sluggish, taking a long time to respond whenever someone selected the next track.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
- SLUGGISH Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
- Princeton WordNet 3.0: wn30-a-00034322, wn30-a-00036998, wn30-a-00981703
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license