sluggish
Americanadjective
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indisposed to action or exertion; lacking in energy; lazy; indolent.
a sluggish disposition.
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not acting or working with full vigor, as bodily organs.
a sluggish liver.
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slow to act or respond.
a sluggish car engine.
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moving slowly, or having little motion, as a stream.
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slow, as motion.
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slack, as trade, business, or sales.
adjective
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lacking energy; inactive; slow-moving
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functioning at below normal rate or level
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exhibiting poor response to stimulation
Synonym Usage
See inactive.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sluggish
First recorded in 1400–50, sluggish is from the late Middle English word slugissh. See slug 1, -ish 1
Explanation
When you are feeling draggy — positively slug-like — you are sluggish, or slow. If cookie sales are sluggish at your bake sale, you are selling very few treats. Just about anything can be sluggish. An old computer that takes forever to load a piece of software is sluggish, as is a car that can't quite make it up a big hill. And who isn't sluggish in the morning before the first cup of coffee?! Picture a slug moving its heavy little body across a basketball court... Still going? Yes. It will take that slug forever to get to the foul line at the sluggish pace it's moving.
Vocabulary lists containing sluggish
List 12
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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The Things They Carried
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
All that makes Houston’s sluggish start almost quaint by comparison.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 7, 2026
Some analysts have also said the lack of any blockbuster title to boost Switch 2 adoption among gamers has led to sluggish sales of the console.
From Barron's ● Nov. 5, 2026
"I am happy to report, all that money shows on screen," he wrote, praising the performances and visual effects, though he found the first half sluggish and the music underwhelming.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026
Job openings in the U.S. rose in September to a four-month high and hiring also increased, signaling mild but perhaps not sustainable improvement in a sluggish U.S. labor market.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2026
This time she glided into a little bay where the current was sluggish, and tied up to what she thought was a willow.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
