sluggish
/ˈslʌɡɪʃ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.25 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Exhibiting economic decline, inactivity, slow, or subnormal growth.
Example Sentences
- "a sluggish man"
- "[I]f he leaves the School poſſeſs'd of a ſluggiſh indolent Diſpoſition, and of Learning rather forc'd upon him than choſen, it is probable he will forget what he brought thence; but if he be active, emulous and aſpiring, he will certainly find Time for Reading and Thinking; for tho' it be a homely, it is a true Saying, that where there is a Will, there is a Way."
- "And the sluggish land slumbers in utter neglect."
- "He helps us to understand the insignificant points which mark the rapid undercurrents of the seemingly sluggish soul of Khalid."
- "Vp thou tame River, vvake; / And from the liquid limbes this ſlumber ſhake: / Thou drovvn'st thy ſelfe in inofficious ſleepe; / And theſe thy ſluggiſh vvaters ſeeme to creepe, / Rather than flovv."
- "We float upon a sluggish stream, / We ride no rapids mad, / While life is all a tempered dream / And every joy half sad."
Etymology
Etymology tree English slug Proto-Indo-European *-iskos Proto-Germanic *-iskaz Proto-West Germanic *-isk Old English -isċ Middle English -isch English -ish English sluggish From slug + -ish.
Inflected Forms
sluggisher (comparative)
more sluggish (comparative)
sluggishest (superlative)
most sluggish (superlative)