slouch
Americanverb (used without object)
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slouches,
present (3rd person singular)
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slouched,
past participle, past
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slouching
present participle
-
to sit or stand with an awkward, drooping posture.
-
to move or walk with loosely drooping body and careless gait.
-
to have a droop or downward bend, as a hat.
verb (used with object)
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slouches,
present (3rd person singular)
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slouched,
past participle, past
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slouching
present participle
noun
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slouches
plural
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a drooping or bending forward of the head and shoulders; an awkward, drooping posture or carriage.
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an awkward, clumsy, or slovenly person.
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a lazy, inept, or inefficient person.
verb
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(intr) to sit or stand with a drooping bearing
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(intr) to walk or move with an awkward slovenly gait
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(tr) to cause (the shoulders) to droop
noun
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a drooping carriage
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informal (usually used in negative constructions) an incompetent or slovenly person
he's no slouch at football
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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slouchsimple
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slouchessimple
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have slouchedperfect
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has slouchedperfect
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am slouchingprogressive
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are slouchingprogressive
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is slouchingprogressive
-
have been slouchingperfect progressive
-
has been slouchingperfect progressive
Past
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slouchedsimple
-
had slouchedperfect
-
was slouchingprogressive
-
were slouchingprogressive
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had been slouchingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of slouch
First recorded in 1505–15; origin uncertain
Explanation
To slouch is to sit or stand with your shoulders hunched. Most people are more likely to slouch when they're tired or bored. You might tend to slouch in math class but sit up straight and tall when your favorite art teacher invites you to enter a piece in an art show. Your math class posture can itself be described as a slouch as well. Yet another meaning of slouch is a person who's lazy or useless — this is actually the word's original definition, from the 1500's. It's thought to be rooted in the Old Norse word slokr, "lazy fellow."
Vocabulary lists containing slouch
The Lingo of Body Language
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Stargirl
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Seedfolks
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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.
See Examples For:
Vincent Walsh steals every scene he’s in as Sweeney’s henchman Eddie Breen, a lethal type with a brogue, slouch cap and his mouth half open most of the time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
Visa’s stock, for its part, has been no slouch, rising 2,244% since the time of its IPO in March 2008, compared with a 473% rise for the S&P 500 over the same time.
From MarketWatch ● May 25, 2026
Even before the new changes, Japan has been no slouch.
From Barron's ● May 3, 2026
Those tensions are already in play between the U.S. and its biggest adversary, China, which has been no slouch when it comes to space exploration.
From Salon ● Apr. 9, 2026
I fiddle with the curly mass of my bangs and slouch down, feeling like the plainest girl ever next to the fashion plate that is Katherine Deveraux.
From "Dread Nation" by Justina Ireland
The man slouches in his chair with his legs crossed, while the woman holds up her phone.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
He slouches casually on the velour sofa between bites of granola and sips of black coffee.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2025
Riseborough offers a dynamite performance as Suze, leaning into a thick New York accent as she slouches and slinks through her character’s awakening.
From New York Times ● Oct. 27, 2022
He's the kind of fellow who's convinced he knew what the world needs in the way the rest of the slouches around him never did.
From Salon ● Oct. 20, 2022
He checks his hair in the rearview mirror, examines the start of a pimple on his chin, puts his hood up, and slouches in the seat, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.
From "Amina's Voice" by Hena Khan
The production, directed by Diane Paulus, opens with Berenger lying slouched against the door of the town cafe, musing on his youth, which has given way to a sense of alienation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
In a laboratory study, participants who sat upright reported more positive feelings and performed better during a task involving risk and reward than participants who slouched or sat in the control condition.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 5, 2026
Unlike me, with my sad little balcony lined with wilted pots of herbs, he had proper outdoor space — and a neighbor whose blackberry bush slouched lazily over the fence, heavy with fruit.
From Salon ● Sep. 27, 2025
He said he found Mr Combs there in a towel, slouched on a chair with a "devilish" look on his face, and a broken vase on the floor.
From BBC ● May 12, 2025
Mrs. Sidman took everyone else to search for wood, and she organized-what was brought back into a pile that slouched from the biggest logs to the smallest twigs.
From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt
Its formless body accommodated slouching, lounging or lying down, selling freedom from both conventional posture and the bourgeois living room.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
You’d be forgiven for thinking the U.S. is slouching toward recession based on the gloomy headlines.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
All of that will ensure there is no slouching during Powell’s final stint as Fed chair—and not for investors, either.
From Barron's ● May 4, 2026
Fact: Many people spend hours slouching while staring at a computer or focusing on cellphones that draw the eyes down and curve the neck.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 15, 2025
“Do you think it was an accident?” the Colonel asked as I stood beside him, my shoulders slouching, wanting a cigarette but nervous to be as audacious as him.
From "Looking for Alaska" by John Green
Definitions 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.
