as in lazy
not easily aroused to action or work
his overly lax managerial style has resulted in a department that is slothful and unproductive
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Recent Examples of slothful
Soviet Russia, too, experienced periodic panics about slothful bureaucrats impeding the dictatorship of the proletariat.
—
Charlie Tyson, The New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2025
At our test track, the buzzy little SUV needed a slothful 9.2 seconds to hit 60 mph.
—Drew Dorian, Car and Driver, 23 Dec. 2022
The pilfered offspring return with the raiders to their nests, then hatch and grow up to become live-in slaves, tasked with the feeding and care of their slothful masters and their masters’ brood.
—Brendan Borrell, Discover Magazine, 10 Apr. 2013
Procrastination can be slothful or prudent, a vice or a virtue, depending on your habits and the tasks at hand.
—Arthur C. Brooks, The Atlantic, 16 Dec. 2021
Selfish, feckless, self-deluded, weak-willed yet childishly willful, manipulative, slothful, and mendacious: How can such a despicable character also be such a likable one?
—Sigrid Nunez, Harper's Magazine, 28 Sep. 2021
The proud stagger beneath a sack of boulders, and the slothful atone with manic activity.
—Judith Thurman, The New Yorker, 13 Sep. 2021
After releasing 12 albums in 13 months, Twin Cities guitarist Cory Wong will end his momentarily slothful ways and drop just his second album this year.
—Jon Bream, Star Tribune, 11 May 2021
At the same time, others construed even the most slothful forms of idleness as a bold resistance to modernity’s greatest ills.
—Ingrid Nelson, The Conversation, 19 Mar. 2021
Charlie Tyson, The New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2025
At our test track, the buzzy little SUV needed a slothful 9.2 seconds to hit 60 mph.
—Drew Dorian, Car and Driver, 23 Dec. 2022
The pilfered offspring return with the raiders to their nests, then hatch and grow up to become live-in slaves, tasked with the feeding and care of their slothful masters and their masters’ brood.
—Brendan Borrell, Discover Magazine, 10 Apr. 2013
Procrastination can be slothful or prudent, a vice or a virtue, depending on your habits and the tasks at hand.
—Arthur C. Brooks, The Atlantic, 16 Dec. 2021
Selfish, feckless, self-deluded, weak-willed yet childishly willful, manipulative, slothful, and mendacious: How can such a despicable character also be such a likable one?
—Sigrid Nunez, Harper's Magazine, 28 Sep. 2021
The proud stagger beneath a sack of boulders, and the slothful atone with manic activity.
—Judith Thurman, The New Yorker, 13 Sep. 2021
After releasing 12 albums in 13 months, Twin Cities guitarist Cory Wong will end his momentarily slothful ways and drop just his second album this year.
—Jon Bream, Star Tribune, 11 May 2021
At the same time, others construed even the most slothful forms of idleness as a bold resistance to modernity’s greatest ills.
—Ingrid Nelson, The Conversation, 19 Mar. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for slothful
Adjective
-
By the end of the summer, there will be another pool with a zero-entry layout, lazy river, and seven private cabanas.—
Lisa Cericola,
Southern Living,
11 July 2025
-
And perhaps that is lazy script writing from the football gods.—
Megan Feringa,
New York Times,
10 July 2025
Adjective
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The Brewers were idle Thursday and trail the NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs by two games in the loss column.—
Chantz Martin,
FOXNews.com,
11 July 2025
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Many of these homes, which were badly needed due to the ongoing housing shortage across the country, are now sitting idle on the market because high mortgage rates and growing economic uncertainty are keeping buyers on the sidelines.—
Giulia Carbonaro,
MSNBC Newsweek,
10 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Slothful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/slothful. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.
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