as in slug
a lazy person
tried to wake up the sluggards who were still sleeping at that late hour
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in slothful
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Recent Examples of 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
Moneyshow, Forbes, 5 Mar. 2021
Noun
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
Adjective
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sluggard
Noun
-
Spray just before dusk when slugs become active and so the wet leaves won't be burned by the sun.—
Mary Marlowe Leverette,
Southern Living,
18 May 2025
-
While his average is slightly down compared to last year’s April (.272), the slug and OPS are up significantly.—
Katie Woo,
New York Times,
28 Apr. 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
-
These capuchins have figured out how to use stones to crack open mollusks, snails and other edible treats that have hard shells.—
Elizabeth Landau,
New York Times,
19 May 2025
-
Some of the snails the DOC cares for are around 25 to 30 years old, the release said.—
Melina Khan,
USA Today,
12 May 2025
Adjective
-
RuPaul wants a Drag Superstar, not an ordinary girl who gets lazy and gets bored.—
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
23 May 2025
-
Jack Sparks, aquatics director for the city, said Black Bob Bay’s water park typically draws the biggest crowds with its lazy river, rock wall and high dive.—
Beth Lipoff,
Kansas City Star,
23 May 2025
Noun
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Such illusions should have been punctured during the conflict, when Pakistan downed at least two Indian jets and unleashed drones and missiles that matched Indian capabilities.—
Vaibhav Vats,
The Atlantic,
21 May 2025
-
First-stage booster made its 14th flight landing on the drone ship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic.—
Richard Tribou,
The Orlando Sentinel,
21 May 2025
Adjective
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Also, small, indolent prostate cancer is extremely common as men age, but rarely advances to serious disease.—
Arthur L. Kellermann,
Forbes.com,
21 May 2025
-
Davies says that's in part because most prostate cancers found at that age are indolent: growing slowly and not causing considerable pain.—
Rachel Treisman,
NPR,
19 May 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
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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
-
Expectations of real gains in livelihoods among China’s large, increasingly shiftless rural population will be much harder to fulfill in an era of slower growth.—
Scott Rozelle and Matthew Boswell,
Foreign Affairs,
5 Oct. 2022
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After the volunteers slink back to Paddy’s, the most shiftless person on campus will once again be Principal Coleman (Janelle James), whose ineptitude and vanity don’t prevent her from advocating for the students from time to time.—
Hannah Giorgis,
The Atlantic,
9 Jan. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Sluggard.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sluggard. Accessed 3 Jun. 2025.
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