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)
-
slouched,
past participle, past
-
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.
-
an awkward, clumsy, or slovenly person.
-
a lazy, inept, or inefficient person.
verb
-
(intr) to sit or stand with a drooping bearing
-
(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
-
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
-
has slouchedperfect
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am slouchingprogressive
-
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
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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:
If students slouch, lean against the walls or look around, they were given a warning, Ben said.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 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 felt my feet planted firmly on the floor, and I cracked my own smile as I stood and stepped toward Headmaster Patterson, and I didn't slouch or hang my head, or even look away.
From "Tradition" by Brendan Kiely
The man slouches in his chair with his legs crossed, while the woman holds up her phone.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
The director of revered films like “Traffic,” “Erin Brockovich” and “Magic Mike” slouches as he speaks, but is alert and engaged throughout our 90-minute conversation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 15, 2025
Adding water to nut butters can be mystifying because the mixture will initially stiffen before it slouches.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 15, 2023
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
Not that any of them were slouches when it came to academics.
From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater
This is no secret to my forbearing friends who slouched in theater seats next to me during, say, every Paul W. S. Anderson-directed disaster in the “Resident Evil” series.
From Salon ● Sep. 18, 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
We first see her slouched on a sofa on the back porch of the family’s house, seemingly cocooned in unhappiness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
Silk pajama pants slouched over Wales Bonner loafers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 27, 2026
She staggered and slouched into the dining room, where an enormous breakfast lay on the table.
From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas
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
Of course those activities are "a good thing" she says, but they won't make up for sitting all day at work staring at a screen or spending the evening slouching on the couch.
From BBC ● Feb. 1, 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
The immediate appeal of Lamarck’s idea was that it offered a reassuring story of progress: all animals were progressively adapting to their environments, and thus progressively slouching along an evolutionary ladder toward perfection.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
