slacker

[slak-er]

noun

1. a person who evades their duty or work; shirker.

   Synonyms: laggard, dodger, malingerer

2. an especially educated young person who is antimaterialistic, purposeless, apathetic, and usually works in a dead-end job.

3. a person who evades military service.

slacker

/ ˈslækə /

noun

1. a person who evades work or duty; shirker

2. informal

   1. an educated young adult characterized by cynicism and apathy

   2. ( as modifier )

      slacker culture

Word History and Origins

Origin of slacker¹

First recorded in 1790–1800; slack ¹ ( def. ) + -er ¹ ( def. ); slacker def. 2 popularized by the film Slackers (1991)

Example Sentences

He decries the lack of unifying concepts like “the West” and sees too many Americans as slackers with no sense of national pride or patriotism.

From Salon

Barnoff says Nathaniel was a bit of a slacker when he was in junior high and taking lessons at the Cleveland Music School Settlement.

From Los Angeles Times

My backstory was that they lived in New York — he was trying to get in a band, it didn’t really happen for him, he was kind of a slacker.

From Los Angeles Times

After years of trying to make it as an actor, Mazino got his breakout role in the 2023 limited series “Beef,” where he portrays a slacker who falls for his older brother’s road-rage nemesis.

From Los Angeles Times

That realisation manifests in the lovestruck slacker rock of Dragonfly, and the finger-plucked Neptune Baby, with its refrain, "I'm a boat, and you are the water".

From BBC