sloth

American  

[slawth, slohth] / slɔθ, sloʊθ /

noun

• sloths
  plural

1. habitual disinclination to exertion; laziness; indolence.

   Indifference, negligence, and sloth have no place in the classroom.

   Synonyms:

   idleness

2. 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.

3. a pack or group of bears.

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sloth British  

/ sləʊθ /

noun

1. 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

2. reluctance to work or exert oneself

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• sloths
  plural

Etymology

Origin of sloth

First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English slowth; replacing Old English slǣwth, derivative of slǣw, variant of slāw “slow”; see slow, -th ¹

Explanation

If you lounge around in your bathrobe watching TV and ordering out for pizza, you'll get called a sloth. A sloth is actually a slow-moving, tree-dwelling mammal, but it has become a synonym for "lazybones." Slug also doubles as the name of an animal and a term for someone who is lazy, slow or lethargic. But with slug, the animal name probably morphed into the human application, whereas sloth has meant "lazy person" or "laziness" for a long time. In the Catholic Church sloth was categorized as one of the seven deadly sins.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sloth sloths

We have trained sloth and docility and are reaping what we have sown.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026

There was also Drepanosaurus, a tree-dwelling reptile equipped with a large claw resembling that of a tree sloth, along with a smaller claw on its prehensile tail.

From Science Daily ● May 29, 2026

Visitors will be able to go into the sloth house from 14:00 on Wednesday.

From BBC ● May 12, 2026

Sloth World is advertised as Orlando's only "slotharium," with a rainforest-inspired habitat "designed exclusively with sloth well-being in mind", according to its website.

From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026

My zoology thesis was a functional analysis of the thyroid gland of the three-toed sloth.

From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel

Giant ground sloths lived alongside glyptodonts, heavily built relatives of armadillos, as well as several groups of ungulates.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 19, 2026

The California Department of Motor Vehicles, long synonymous with slow lines and bureaucracy — immortalized by the sloths of the Department of Mammal Vehicles in Disney’s “Zootopia” — is expanding its digital services.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

Most of the remains belonged to rodents, but researchers also recovered fossils from sloths, birds, reptiles, and many other animals, representing more than 50 species.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 5, 2026

When FWC investigators were alerted and began investigating, Peter Bandre, who is listed online as the attraction's vice-president, told them that the warehouse where the sloths died was not properly set to receive the animals.

From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026

He sat on a bench across from the jungle gym, watching a bunch of second graders hang upside down like tree sloths.

From "Shooting Kabul" by N. H. Senzai