as in lazy
not easily aroused to action or work
shiftless spongers who never thought to do anything for themselves
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Examples of shiftless in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Gill’s benevolent steadfastness is supported by his loving, tolerant wife (Shailene Woodley) but mocked by his shiftless brother (a very funny Pete Davidson), who urges him to cash in.
—
Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 15 Sep. 2023
The filmmaker wrote, directed, shot, edited, and starred in this essentially plotless Super 16 slice-of-life about a shiftless Austin dude who couch surfs across the state.
—A.a. Dowd, Chron, 4 Apr. 2023
But eventually the smart lower class people will have descendants who are in the upper class, while the shiftless upper class individuals of earlier generations will have descendants who move down the class hierarchy after exhausting their inheritances.
—Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 24 June 2012
Their anger focused on a faceless government that neglected people like them and on supposedly shiftless immigrants and minorities who feasted at the public trough.
—Helen Epstein, The New York Review of Books, 10 Mar. 2020
Stereotypes of unemployed, shiftless man-children playing X-Box in their parents’ basement aren’t really borne out by the data.
—Matt Levin, The Mercury News, 27 Aug. 2019
Among them was Boy (2010), a poignant coming-of-age dramedy about a kid whose obsession with Michael Jackson offers him an escape from dealing with his shiftless father.
—Aja Romano, Vox, 31 Oct. 2018
Last year, Buffalo Wild Wings expressed concern about millennials, and what those shiftless kids could do to the chicken-wing-and-plasma-screen trade.
—Jason Gay, WSJ, 13 Aug. 2018
Or the shiftless pool man whose slide into despair seems to parallel the fires and mudslides that are chewing up the hills around him.
—Steve Marble, latimes.com, 24 Jan. 2018
Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 15 Sep. 2023
The filmmaker wrote, directed, shot, edited, and starred in this essentially plotless Super 16 slice-of-life about a shiftless Austin dude who couch surfs across the state.
—A.a. Dowd, Chron, 4 Apr. 2023
But eventually the smart lower class people will have descendants who are in the upper class, while the shiftless upper class individuals of earlier generations will have descendants who move down the class hierarchy after exhausting their inheritances.
—Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 24 June 2012
Their anger focused on a faceless government that neglected people like them and on supposedly shiftless immigrants and minorities who feasted at the public trough.
—Helen Epstein, The New York Review of Books, 10 Mar. 2020
Stereotypes of unemployed, shiftless man-children playing X-Box in their parents’ basement aren’t really borne out by the data.
—Matt Levin, The Mercury News, 27 Aug. 2019
Among them was Boy (2010), a poignant coming-of-age dramedy about a kid whose obsession with Michael Jackson offers him an escape from dealing with his shiftless father.
—Aja Romano, Vox, 31 Oct. 2018
Last year, Buffalo Wild Wings expressed concern about millennials, and what those shiftless kids could do to the chicken-wing-and-plasma-screen trade.
—Jason Gay, WSJ, 13 Aug. 2018
Or the shiftless pool man whose slide into despair seems to parallel the fires and mudslides that are chewing up the hills around him.
—Steve Marble, latimes.com, 24 Jan. 2018
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'shiftless.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Shiftless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shiftless. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.
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