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
-
The tube will then act as a protective barrier over seeds, preventing common garden pests like snails and slugs from reaching them.—
Michelle Mastro,
The Spruce,
19 Feb. 2026
-
The reflective foil discourages unwanted insects and pests like slugs from approaching and harming the plants, but actually helps to attract butterflies.—
Darcy Lenz,
Southern Living,
17 Feb. 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
-
Water’s central role in bird conservation The South Florida wetland dynamic is central to the snail kite’s survival.—
Sofia Baltodano,
Miami Herald,
17 Feb. 2026
-
The snail slime doesn’t seem to actively turn Cathy on, but points for originality here.—
Fran Hoepfner,
Vulture,
16 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Their latest establishment is our top off-mountain pick for daily brunch (a great start to any lazy ski day) and Thursday-to-Saturday evening fare.—
Evie Carrick,
Travel + Leisure,
19 Feb. 2026
-
Specialty shops, coffee shops, boutiques and restaurants could share 200 acres of trails, pocket parks, wooded landscapes and a lazy creek with a combination of residential options.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
16 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Russian missiles and drones in recent months have pounded Ukraine’s energy grid, plunging people into frozen darkness in one of the country’s coldest winters on record.—
Justin Spike,
Los Angeles Times,
23 Feb. 2026
-
Biggest air attack in weeks Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also said Sunday that Russia had used 50 missiles and nearly 300 drones in a widespread barrage against locations across the country.—
Rhea Mogul,
CNN Money,
22 Feb. 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
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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
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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
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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 24 Feb. 2026.
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