as in slug
a lazy person
tried to wake up the sluggards who were still sleeping at that late hour
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in slothful
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of sluggard
Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 19 July 2019
Clearly, supervision at your job is lax, and your sluggard classmate is taking advantage of that.
—Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York Times, 11 Oct. 2017
Slug was – is – a variant on sluggard, which was actually used as a surname for some time, apparently.
—Ruth Walker, The Christian Science Monitor, 7 Sep. 2017
French workers, whom the British like to dismiss as holiday-hogging sluggards, are more productive than the British.
—The Economist, 31 Aug. 2017
Moneyshow, Forbes, 5 Mar. 2021
Noun
Scar then proceeds to desolate the kingdom, with the help of hyenas, while Simba, in exile, grows up to become a pleasure-hunting, grub-eating sluggard.
—Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 19 July 2019
Clearly, supervision at your job is lax, and your sluggard classmate is taking advantage of that.
—Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York Times, 11 Oct. 2017
Slug was – is – a variant on sluggard, which was actually used as a surname for some time, apparently.
—Ruth Walker, The Christian Science Monitor, 7 Sep. 2017
French workers, whom the British like to dismiss as holiday-hogging sluggards, are more productive than the British.
—The Economist, 31 Aug. 2017
Adjective
The stock really has not done much of anything in the last five years, the stock following a similar sluggard pattern of the company’s revenue line.
—Moneyshow, Forbes, 5 Mar. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sluggard
Noun
-
Clean the bowls and refresh the beer every night until the slugs are gone.—
Mary Marlowe Leverette,
Southern Living,
22 Apr. 2026
-
As with brassicas, many pests target strawberries, but garlic’s aroma can keep rabbits, aphids, snails, and slugs at bay.—
Lauren Landers,
Better Homes & Gardens,
21 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
That they would be regarded as slothful morons who aren't worth the price of a ticket of admission.—
Jim Cramer,
CNBC,
2 Feb. 2026
-
Soviet Russia, too, experienced periodic panics about slothful bureaucrats impeding the dictatorship of the proletariat.—
Charlie Tyson,
The New Yorker,
15 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
Among them is a purple dye drawn from a sea snail found along the coast, a resource that has become increasingly difficult to gather as the species declines.—
María Teresa Hernández,
Los Angeles Times,
22 Apr. 2026
-
Are snails endangered in Idaho?—
Idaho Statesman,
Idaho Statesman,
22 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Giants third base coach Hector Borg waved Lee home, trying to take advantage of the wet conditions and a lazy throw back to the infield, but the Dodgers nabbed Lee with feet to spare.—
Justice delos Santos,
Mercury News,
24 Apr. 2026
-
That film felt rushed, inconsistent, and lazy.—
Ian Miller OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Before the ceasefire, US forces and installations throughout the region were repeatedly targeted and hit by Iranian drones and missiles.—
Sophia Saifi,
CNN Money,
21 Apr. 2026
-
The company combines laser systems with radio frequency counter-drone tools and kinetic interceptors to address evolving threats across domains.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
21 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Every 4:3 shot is framed to maximize the social verticality of the club, and every sequence is edited to evoke the indolent energy of a hot car on a hot summer’s day.—
David Ehrlich,
IndieWire,
23 Jan. 2026
-
There are two types: Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which can be aggressive or indolent, according to the Cleveland Clinic.—
Escher Walcott,
PEOPLE,
21 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
His discoveries promise to upset the gaming tables of every school of thought that wagers on new and untested art for idlers’ rewards: the love of novelty, the will to make or unmake reputations, the wish to be hip or au courant.—
Mark Greif,
Harper's Magazine,
26 July 2024
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Their name exudes the essence of an idler and slacker, but women’s loafers themselves are quite the opposite.—
Gaby Keiderling,
Harper's BAZAAR,
19 Jan. 2023
Adjective
-
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
Cite this Entry
“Sluggard.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sluggard. Accessed 26 Apr. 2026.
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