shiftless
/ʃˈɪftlɪs/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.95 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
adj
Untrustworthy as a result of being incompetent at the job.
adj
Destitute of shifts or expedients; lacking proper means.
Example Sentences
- "To expand, without bothering about it—without shiftless timidity on one side, or loquacious eagerness on the other—to the full compass of what he would have called a "pleasant" experience, was Newman's most definite programme of life."
- "Decades ago, before credit scores, loan officers could make decisions almost whimsically and your fate could hinge on whether you reminded them of someone, or they had slept poorly the night before, or they harbored stereotypes of "shiftless blacks" and "flighty women.""
Etymology
Etymology tree English shift Proto-Indo-European *lewh₁- Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-der. Proto-Germanic *leusaną Proto-Germanic *lausaz Proto-Germanic *-lausaz Proto-West Germanic *-laus Old English -lēas Middle English -les English -less English shiftless From shift + -less.
Inflected Forms
more shiftless (comparative)
most shiftless (superlative)