as in slowly
at a pace that is less than usual, desirable, or expected
the car responds sluggishly until it warms up
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Recent Examples of sluggishly
Quidone walked past a correction officer, looking sick, and again vomited into a dayroom trash bin before moving sluggishly back to his cell.
—
John Annese, New York Daily News, 16 Jan. 2026
While plenty of talent is coming back to Columbus, Ohio State has to speed things up offensively after playing too sluggishly this season.
—Paul Myerberg, USA Today, 2 Jan. 2026
Their survival to this day tells us Mars' mantle has evolved sluggishly over billions of years.
—Theo Burman, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Aug. 2025
John Annese, New York Daily News, 16 Jan. 2026
While plenty of talent is coming back to Columbus, Ohio State has to speed things up offensively after playing too sluggishly this season.
—Paul Myerberg, USA Today, 2 Jan. 2026
Their survival to this day tells us Mars' mantle has evolved sluggishly over billions of years.
—Theo Burman, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sluggishly
slowly
Adverb
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Written with Alessandro Secchi The idea of placing AI data centers in space is slowly edging from science fiction towards reality.—
Tomoko Yokoi,
Forbes.com,
20 Jan. 2026
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Simply put on a pair of gloves, grasp the weed near the soil line, and slowly pull it out.—
Helena Madden,
Martha Stewart,
20 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Sluggishly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sluggishly. Accessed 27 Jan. 2026.
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