shiftless

[shift-lis]

adjective

1. lacking in resourcefulness; inefficient; lazy.

   Synonyms: indolent, careless, slothful

2. lacking in incentive, ambition, or aspiration.

shiftless

/ ˈʃɪftlɪs /

adjective

1. lacking in ambition or initiative

Other Word Forms

• shiftlessly adverb
• shiftlessness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of shiftless¹

First recorded in 1555–65; shift + -less

Example Sentences

On their first day, he arrives late to work — and bloody, having gotten into a fight with his mother’s shiftless, but large, boyfriend.

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For much of that time—in letters, newspapers, books, and speeches—many white people commonly described enslaved African Americans as shiftless or lazy, disrespectful or “uppity,” and ignorant.

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But when the Mexicans started coming from southern states with larger Indigenous populations, my relatives saw them as shiftless flojos — lazy people — who weren’t like our Mexicans.

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"Think of the Goof as a composite of an everlasting optimist, a gullible Good Samaritan, a half-wit, a shiftless, good-natured colored boy, and a hick," Babbitt told his staff in 1934.

Read more on Salon

Throughout American history, some people, whether simply down on their luck or different from the majority, have been stereotyped as immoral, lazy, shiftless — in short, undeserving.

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