sloth
[slawth or especially for 2, slohth]
- 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.
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Origin of sloth
Synonyms
See more synonyms for sloth on Thesaurus.com1. shiftlessness, idleness, slackness.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for sloth
Contemporary Examples
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 DisorderClive Irving
August 10, 2014
This disease was thought to stem from bad climate, and sloth.
Here are the Russians, they will punish us for our sloth and hubris, but if we make Johnny read better!
Thanksgiving is about sloth and gluttony, as well as a dash of envy and greed.
The conservative narrative would be built around some idea of liberal licentiousness or sloth or some such.
Historical Examples
Moderation is the languor and sloth of the soul, Ambition its activity and heat.
ReflectionsFrancois Duc De La Rochefoucauld
Mealy-bug is usually a sign of sloth on the part of the gardener.
Manual of American Grape-GrowingU. P. Hedrick
To her well-wishers it seemed as if the people had given itself to sloth and indulgence.
The Siege of BostonAllen French
She's an old thing herself, and of course she hasn't the nerves of a sloth.
Am I the cause that he hath sunk in sloth, and men scoff at his name and his strength?'
King Arthur's KnightsHenry Gilbert
sloth
- 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
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Word Origin
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
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Word Origin and History for sloth
n.
late 12c., "indolence, sluggishness," formed from Middle English slou, slowe (see slow (adj.)) + abstract formative -th (2). Replaced Old English slæwð "sloth, indolence." Sense of "slowness, tardiness" is from mid-14c. As one of the deadly sins, it translates Latin accidia.
The slow-moving mammal first so called 1610s, a translation of Portuguese preguiça "slowness, slothfulness," from Latin pigritia "laziness" (cf. Spanish perezosa "slothful," also "the sloth").
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper