as in slug
a lazy person
tried to wake up the sluggards who were still sleeping at that late hour
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in slothful
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of sluggard
Moneyshow, Forbes, 5 Mar. 2021
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
Noun
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
Adjective
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sluggard
Noun
-
The 170-grain slug socked him right between the horns.—
Bob Cary,
Outdoor Life,
15 Oct. 2025
-
California has 42 official state symbols after Governor Newsom signed three bills to create new symbols in 2024, including the Dungeness crab as the state crustacean, the banana slug as the state slug, and the black abalone as the state seashell.—
Martha McHardy,
MSNBC Newsweek,
10 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
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
Noun
-
Moles eat insects, snail larvae, spiders, and small invertebrates, but their favorite foods are earthworms and white grubs.—
Arricca Elin SanSone,
Southern Living,
17 Oct. 2025
-
In addition to sea slugs, other snails have been known to graze on bryozoan.—
Ashley Mackin Solomon,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
15 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Whether making breakfast for a lazy Saturday morning, feeding a house full of guests, or prepping for a potluck brunch, breakfast casseroles will always be a crowd favorite.—
Cameron Beall,
Southern Living,
18 Oct. 2025
-
Meanwhile, the room service menu, which blended everything from soups and sandwiches to expansive plates, was a great option for breakfast in bed or a lazy lunch.—
Victoria Uwumarogie,
Essence,
10 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
As drone warfare evolves, the service aims to field layered defenses capable of protecting maneuver units against everything from quadcopters to cruise missiles.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
21 Oct. 2025
-
Visitors are encouraged to take plenty of photos, but drones, selfie sticks, and professional photography equipment are not allowed.—
Katie Nadworny,
Travel + Leisure,
20 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Sixty-five-year-old Jep Gambardella, indolent and disenchanted, his eyes permanently imbued with gin and tonic, watches this parade of hollow, doomed, powerful yet depressed humanity.—
Leo Barraclough,
Variety,
4 Aug. 2025
-
Her tumor appears ominous but is, by nature, indolent—slow-growing, noninvasive, never destined to threaten her life.—
Siddhartha Mukherjee,
New Yorker,
16 June 2025
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
-
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 21 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share