sludge
/slʌd͡ʒ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.23 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A residual semi-solid material left from industrial, water treatment, or wastewater treatment processes.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
Institutional policies that introduce tedium and inefficiency in processes.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale.[…]Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge."
- "In the 2008 best seller Nudge, the legal scholar Cass R. Sunstein and the economist Richard H. Thaler marshaled behavioral-science research to show how small tweaks could help us make better choices. An updated version of the book includes a section on what they called “sludge”—tortuous administrative demands, endless wait times, and excessive procedural fuss that impede us in our lives."
Etymology
From Middle English slugge, sluche (“mud, mire”), probably an alteration of Middle English sliche, slicche ("mud, slush, tar"; whence Modern English slitch), from Old English *sliċ, from Proto-West Germanic *sliki, *slīk, from Proto-Germanic *slikiz, *slīką (“mud, slush”). Cognate with Dutch slijk, German Schlick. Compare also slush.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: slugge, *sliċ, *sliki, *slikiz