sloven

[sluhv-uh n]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sloven ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a person who is habitually negligent of neatness or cleanliness in dress, appearance, etc.

a person who works, acts, speaks, etc., in a negligent, slipshod manner.

Origin of sloven

1400–50; late Middle English sloveyn, perhaps < Middle Dutch slof careless (Dutch slof careless, sloven to toil) + -inne feminine noun suffix

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

Related Words for sloven

hog, ragamuffin, boor, slattern, tatterdemalion, swine, sloven, pig

Examples from the Web for sloven

Historical Examples of sloven

Having been a coxcomb in his youth, Fox was now degenerating into the sloven.
Beaux and Belles of England
Mary Robinson
The sloven becomes the bungler, and the bungler is on the high road to failure.
Rural Life and the Rural School
Joseph Kennedy
He had seen the sloven tilled decks and the savage-eyed crew.
"Captains Courageous"
Rudyard Kipling
As to his being a sloven in dress, is that what they say about him?
The Rose of Old St. Louis
Mary Dillon
The sloven and the dude are both slaves; but in different ways.
Practical Ethics
William DeWitt Hyde

British Dictionary definitions for sloven

sloven

noun

a person who is habitually negligent in appearance, hygiene, or work

Word Origin for sloven

C15: probably related to Flemish sloef dirty, Dutch slof negligent

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

Word Origin and History for sloven

late 15c., "immoral woman," later (16c.) also "rascal, knave" (regardless of gender); probably from a continental Germanic source, cf. Middle Flemish sloovin "a scold," sloef "untidy, shabby," Dutch slof "careless, negligent," Middle Low German sloven "put on clothes carelessly," from Proto-Germanic *slaubjan, from PIE *sleubh- "to slide, slip" (see sleeve). Meaning "person careless of dress or negligent of cleanliness" is from 1520s. Cf. also slut.