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
Related Words
See inactive.
Other Word Forms
- sluggishly adverb
- sluggishness noun
- unsluggish adjective
- unsluggishly adverb
- unsluggishness noun
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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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.
Shares of General Mills have come under pressure in recent years as the company grapples with sluggish sales amid increasing cost pressure and shifting consumer behavior.
From Barron's • Apr. 13, 2026
Consumers have grown gloomy about the economy, and a sluggish job market has held back buyers, Yun said.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 13, 2026
In fact, the female noble false-widow spiders are notably sluggish and non-aggressive, it adds.
From BBC • Apr. 13, 2026
In their absence, the three remaining candidates pounded on a wide array of municipal ills, including broken sidewalks, high rents and sluggish housing production.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 6, 2026
The cat ignored me and pounced on a sluggish beetle that lumbered under a leaf.
From "Fever 1793" by Laurie Halse Anderson
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.
