sluggish
Americanadjective
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indisposed to action or exertion; lacking in energy; lazy; indolent.
a sluggish disposition.
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not acting or working with full vigor, as bodily organs.
a sluggish liver.
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slow to act or respond.
a sluggish car engine.
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moving slowly, or having little motion, as a stream.
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slow, as motion.
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slack, as trade, business, or sales.
adjective
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lacking energy; inactive; slow-moving
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functioning at below normal rate or level
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exhibiting poor response to stimulation
Synonym Usage
See inactive.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sluggish
First recorded in 1400–50, sluggish is from the late Middle English word slugissh. See slug 1, -ish 1
Explanation
When you are feeling draggy — positively slug-like — you are sluggish, or slow. If cookie sales are sluggish at your bake sale, you are selling very few treats. Just about anything can be sluggish. An old computer that takes forever to load a piece of software is sluggish, as is a car that can't quite make it up a big hill. And who isn't sluggish in the morning before the first cup of coffee?! Picture a slug moving its heavy little body across a basketball court... Still going? Yes. It will take that slug forever to get to the foul line at the sluggish pace it's moving.
Vocabulary lists containing sluggish
List 12
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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The Things They Carried
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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.
Known as an abyssal species, it slothfully trawls the shadows like some mournful Lovecraftian being, possessing an especially sluggish metabolism, which isn’t surprising considering its size.
From Salon ● Oct. 9, 2026
That makes it important to better understand both what causes sluggish bowel function and which strategies can help restore normal digestion.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 5, 2026
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo's right-wing government has prioritised attracting data centre investments to the Nordic country, which is grappling with record-high unemployment and sluggish economic growth.
From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026
High gas prices haven’t done much to revive a sluggish electric-vehicle market.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026
Cars slumped along the mud and gravel roads at twenty or thirty miles an hour like sluggish beetles beneath the overhanging trees.
From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson
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.
