as in thickness
the quality or state of lacking intelligence or quickness of mind
her natural shyness was sometimes mistaken for slowness by people who did not know her well
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Recent Examples of slowness
The slowness of encryption forces them to triage.
—
Julian Lucas, New Yorker, 20 Apr. 2026
Julia's confession Fed up with local law enforcement's slowness and unresponsiveness, Christine and Katas eventually get FBI agent Dawn Martin on the case.
—Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 8 Apr. 2026
By the time symptoms first appear, the majority of these cells are lost forever, meaning the disease can progress for years before any of the telltale physical symptoms emerge—tremors, stiffness and slowness of movement, among others.
—Todd Weissman, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Mar. 2026
The slowness of the day, the blue sky rising tall above the house—a house Daithí has built for her and their two girls—Eloise, their baby, will sleep here, in the shade, windows open to the sea air.
—Literary Hub, 23 Mar. 2026
Learning to sit with that uncertainty – to tolerate the slowness and mess of thinking things through rather than reaching for the frictionless answer – is where discernment begins.
—Kristi Girdharry, The Conversation, 16 Mar. 2026
That slowness also applies to the mail itself.
—Shelley Jones, Chicago Tribune, 25 Feb. 2026
The slowness is part of its appeal.
—Kallie Plagge, The Verge, 19 Jan. 2026
After all, the best homes are born out of slowness rather than speed.
—Shagun Khare, The Spruce, 9 Jan. 2026
Julian Lucas, New Yorker, 20 Apr. 2026
Julia's confession Fed up with local law enforcement's slowness and unresponsiveness, Christine and Katas eventually get FBI agent Dawn Martin on the case.
—Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 8 Apr. 2026
By the time symptoms first appear, the majority of these cells are lost forever, meaning the disease can progress for years before any of the telltale physical symptoms emerge—tremors, stiffness and slowness of movement, among others.
—Todd Weissman, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Mar. 2026
The slowness of the day, the blue sky rising tall above the house—a house Daithí has built for her and their two girls—Eloise, their baby, will sleep here, in the shade, windows open to the sea air.
—Literary Hub, 23 Mar. 2026
Learning to sit with that uncertainty – to tolerate the slowness and mess of thinking things through rather than reaching for the frictionless answer – is where discernment begins.
—Kristi Girdharry, The Conversation, 16 Mar. 2026
That slowness also applies to the mail itself.
—Shelley Jones, Chicago Tribune, 25 Feb. 2026
The slowness is part of its appeal.
—Kallie Plagge, The Verge, 19 Jan. 2026
After all, the best homes are born out of slowness rather than speed.
—Shagun Khare, The Spruce, 9 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for slowness
Noun
-
Working in batches, add 2 meatballs to skillet; flatten each to 1/4-inch thickness using a wide sturdy spatula.—
Jasmine Smith,
Southern Living,
9 May 2026
-
By the Second World War, the steel alloys had improved in composition, metal fabrication methods made armor more homogeneous, and the thickness was increased to create much tougher plating.—
David Szondy
May 07,
New Atlas,
7 May 2026
Noun
-
At its base is 63% Hippophae rhamnoides (more commonly known as sea buckthorn) water, rich in naturally occurring antioxidants, paired with 5% niacinamide and 2% tranexamic acid to target dullness and dark spots without feeling stingy like a peel.—
Christa Joanna Lee,
Allure,
9 May 2026
-
The flexible mask has three light modes to target common skin concerns, from fine lines to dullness and acne.—
Maggie Horton,
PEOPLE,
3 May 2026
Noun
-
Unlike its sibling concepts of dumbness and idiocy, stupidity isn’t really a personality trait.—
Jonny Thomson,
Big Think,
11 Feb. 2026
-
Compare that to punk rock, which used dumbness as a tactic.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
14 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
That men like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk are entrusted with businesses of tectonic influence can be difficult to understand, but their cults of personality have been able to survive scrutiny, perhaps because the money itself is too imposing a firewall for their own stupidity to penetrate.—
Scott Tobias,
Vulture,
19 Apr. 2026
-
Eric Swalwell, a prominent Democratic House member and a front-runner in the race for California governor, had his political career blown up by allegations of degeneracy and abject stupidity.—
Michelle Cottle,
Mercury News,
16 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
This is a story that goes back a century, when low-density residential communities became the ideal in Los Angeles.—
Deputy Managing Editor,
Los Angeles Times,
7 May 2026
-
This third-gen chemistry delivers a 10-fold increase in energy density over its first iteration.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
7 May 2026
Noun
-
Tiernan is tall but carries the denseness of frame and core strength of a guard.—
Matthew Mowery,
Chicago Tribune,
25 Apr. 2026
-
Understand how rye works in baking Though dark, dense rye bread is delicious, rye flour does not inherently create denseness in other baked goods.—
The Washington Post,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
8 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
This was the most straightforward, efficient episode of the season, pleasurable in its simplicity, with only one gimmick (the to-go orders) that barely made a difference to the episode’s outcome.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
28 Apr. 2026
-
That simplicity is an advantage that baseball has over hockey, where everything moves so much faster and the plays don’t happen in discrete chunks.—
Sean McIndoe,
New York Times,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
There’s the White House and its malicious megaphone of mindlessness; the generative AI advocates and their pushy, pathetic ploys; the Major League Baseball owners and their dedication to self-destruction.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
20 Feb. 2026
-
The show’s real villain is mindlessness, in other words.—
Shirley Li,
The Atlantic,
5 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Slowness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/slowness. Accessed 11 May. 2026.
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