sloth

[ slawth or especially for 2, slohth ]

/ slɔθ or especially for 2, sloʊθ /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sloth ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

habitual disinclination to exertion; indolence; laziness.

any of several slow-moving, arboreal, tropical American edentates of the family Bradypodidae, having a long, coarse, grayish-brown coat often of a greenish cast caused by algae, and long, hooklike claws used in gripping tree branches while hanging or moving along in a habitual upside-down position.

a pack or group of bears.

Nearby words

slot machine, slot man, slot racer, slot racing, slotback, sloth, sloth bear, slothful, slotted spoon, slotter, slouch

Origin of sloth

1125–75; Middle English slowth (see slow, -th¹); replacing Old English slǣwth, derivative of slǣw, variant of slāw slow

SYNONYMS FOR sloth

1 shiftlessness, idleness, slackness.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sloth ON THESAURUS.COM

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for sloth

Hard-wired into the psyche of many is the idea that somehow time off is akin to sloth.
Obama’s Extravagant Summer Break? More Like, America’s Vacation-Deficit Disorder|Clive Irving|August 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
This disease was thought to stem from bad climate, and sloth.
When TB Was a Death Sentence: An Excerpt From ‘The Remedy’|Thomas Goetz|April 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Here are the Russians, they will punish us for our sloth and hubris, but if we make Johnny read better!
Sunday Q&A: Josef Joffe on the Myth of American Decline|Michael Moynihan|November 17, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Thanksgiving is about sloth and gluttony, as well as a dash of envy and greed.
Eat Turkey All You Want! It’s Not Going to Put You to Sleep|Kent Sepkowitz|November 22, 2012|DAILY BEAST

The conservative narrative would be built around some idea of liberal licentiousness or sloth or some such.
Quasi-Random Responses to Comments from the Previous Thread|Michael Tomasky|August 29, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Sloth and superstition equally counterwork providence, and render the bounty of heaven of no effect.
The History of Emily Montague|Frances Brooke
Mortify the flesh, and keep it in an obedient dependence on the soul, and you will not be captivated by sloth.
A Christian Directory (Volume 1 of 4)|Richard Baxter
All my poor people, all the hands now actively employed in this spot, would again pine away and be condemned to beggary and sloth.
The Old Man of the Mountain, The Lovecharm and Pietro of Abano|Ludwig Tieck
The sloth of the assembly (unavoidable from their number) has done the most sensible injury to the public cause.
Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson|Thomas Jefferson
Seek out the unfrequented path of prayer;—choked it may be with the weeds of forgetfulness and sloth.
The Hart and the Water-Brooks;|John R. Macduff

British Dictionary definitions for sloth

sloth

/ (sləʊθ) /

noun

any of several shaggy-coated arboreal edentate mammals of the family Bradypodidae, esp Bradypus tridactylus (three-toed sloth or ai) or Choloepus didactylus (two-toed sloth or unau), of Central and South America. They are slow-moving, hanging upside down by their long arms and feeding on vegetation

reluctance to work or exert oneself

Word Origin for sloth

Old English slǣwth; from slǣw, variant of slāw slow

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012