sluggish

From slug +‎ -ish.

• IPA^(key): /ˈslʌɡɪʃ/

• Audio (UK):

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• Rhymes: -ʌɡɪʃ

sluggish (comparative sluggisher or more sluggish, superlative sluggishest or most sluggish)

1. Habitually idle and lazy; slothful; dull; inactive

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:lazy

   a sluggish man

   • 1724, Pharmacopolæ Justificati: Or, Apothecaries Vindicated from the Imputation of Ignorance. […], London: […] J. Roberts, […], →OCLC, page 6:

     [I]f he leaves the School poſſeſs'd of a ſluggiſh indolent Diſpoſition, and of Learning rather forc'd upon him than choſen, it is probable he will forget what he brought thence; but if he be active, emulous and aſpiring, he will certainly find Time for Reading and Thinking; for tho' it be a homely, it is a true Saying, that where there is a Will, there is a Way.

   • c. 1874, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ovid in Exile:

     And the sluggish land slumbers in utter neglect.

   • 1910 January 12, Ameen Rihani, “On the Wharf of Enchantment”, in The Book of Khalid, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published October 1911, →OCLC, book the first (In the Exchange), page 34:

     He helps us to understand the insignificant points which mark the rapid undercurrents of the seemingly sluggish soul of Khalid.

2. Slow; having little motion.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:slow

   Antonym: nimble

   • 1604 March 25 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), B[en] Jon[son], “The Pegme at Fen-church”, in B. Jon: His Part of King James His Royall and Magnificent Entertainement through His Honorable Cittie of London, Thurseday the 15. of March. 1603. […], London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] [and George Eld] for Edward Blount, published 1604, →OCLC, signature B3, verso:

     Vp thou tame River, vvake; / And from the liquid limbes this ſlumber ſhake: / Thou drovvn'st thy ſelfe in inofficious ſleepe; / And theſe thy ſluggiſh vvaters ſeeme to creepe, / Rather than flovv.

   • 1913, Paul Laurence Dunbar, At Sunset Time:

     We float upon a sluggish stream, / We ride no rapids mad, / While life is all a tempered dream / And every joy half sad.

   • 1955 September, H. A. Vallance, “The Border Counties Line”, in Railway Magazine, page 594:

     The head of the North Tyne is reached at Deadwater, 36 miles from Hexham. The river has its source just on the English side of the Border, at the foot of Peel Fell, the most westerly spur of the Cheviots. At first it is a sluggish stream (hence the name Deadwater) but begins to flow more swiftly before it reaches Kielder.

   • 1970, Robert M. Solow, Growth Theory: An Exposition, Oxford University Press, page 3:

     [T]he stock of capital is necessarily a sluggish time series, while output is capable of making wide swings in short intervals[.]

3. Having no power to move oneself or itself; inert.
   • 1695, John Woodward, An Essay toward a Natural History of the Earth and Terrestrial Bodies:

     Matter, being impotent, sluggish, and inactive, hath no power to stir or move itself.

4. Characteristic of a sluggard; dull; stupid; tame; simple.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:stupid

5. Exhibiting economic decline, inactivity, slow, or subnormal growth.

   Inflation has been rising despite a sluggish economy.

   • 2023 November 15, Tessa Wong, “Xi Jinping arrives in US as his Chinese Dream sputters”, in BBC‎^[1]:

     After an initial bounce back, the post-Covid Chinese economy has turned sluggish. Its property market - once a key driver of growth - is now mired in a credit crisis, exacerbating a domestic "debt bomb" that has ballooned from years of borrowing by local government and state-owned enterprises.