as in lazy
not easily aroused to action or work
shiftless spongers who never thought to do anything for themselves
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Recent Examples of shiftless
Why didn’t Tania just get one of her fellow Council wokesters to hire her shiftless, entitled kin?
—
Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 28 Sep. 2025
The film, like How to Train Your Dragon, is about a shiftless youngster (Lilo, a Hawaiian girl who has been acting out since the death of her parents) bonding with a fantasy creature (Stitch, a blue alien experiment designed as a weapon of destruction).
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 13 June 2025
Just as Let’s Start Here tapped the Yves Tumor and Caroline Polachek regulars Justin Raisen and Patrick Wimberly to steer its lysergic pop, Bad Cameo solicits heady, shiftless synthesizer compositions to showcase different dimensions in Lil Yachty’s voice.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 3 July 2024
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
Expectations of real gains in livelihoods among China’s large, increasingly shiftless rural population will be much harder to fulfill in an era of slower growth.
—Scott Rozelle and Matthew Boswell, Foreign Affairs, 5 Oct. 2022
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
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
Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 28 Sep. 2025
The film, like How to Train Your Dragon, is about a shiftless youngster (Lilo, a Hawaiian girl who has been acting out since the death of her parents) bonding with a fantasy creature (Stitch, a blue alien experiment designed as a weapon of destruction).
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 13 June 2025
Just as Let’s Start Here tapped the Yves Tumor and Caroline Polachek regulars Justin Raisen and Patrick Wimberly to steer its lysergic pop, Bad Cameo solicits heady, shiftless synthesizer compositions to showcase different dimensions in Lil Yachty’s voice.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 3 July 2024
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
Expectations of real gains in livelihoods among China’s large, increasingly shiftless rural population will be much harder to fulfill in an era of slower growth.
—Scott Rozelle and Matthew Boswell, Foreign Affairs, 5 Oct. 2022
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
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shiftless
Adjective
-
White cast-iron chairs are perfectly positioned on a terrace to catch Stromboli’s volcanic smoke-show, and occasional fiery belch, in the distance over a lazy cocktail.—
Rosalyn Wikeley,
Condé Nast Traveler,
10 Jan. 2026
-
Suzy Welch, a best-selling author and professor of management practice at New York University, hit back against those who brand the young generation lazy by reminiscing on her career journey.—
Emma Burleigh,
Fortune,
9 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Dumas has worked for Valero for four years but just moved to the Benicia location from Arizona a year ago, just a few months before the energy company announced a possible plan to cease or idle operations.—
Amanda Hari,
CBS News,
8 Jan. 2026
-
One such power line, the century-old Mesa-Sylmar, owned by SoCal Edison, had been idle for some fifty years.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
8 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Shiftless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shiftless. Accessed 15 Jan. 2026.
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