as in slug
a lazy person
tried to wake up the sluggards who were still sleeping at that late hour
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in slothful
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of sluggard
Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 19 July 2019
Clearly, supervision at your job is lax, and your sluggard classmate is taking advantage of that.
—Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York Times, 11 Oct. 2017
Slug was – is – a variant on sluggard, which was actually used as a surname for some time, apparently.
—Ruth Walker, The Christian Science Monitor, 7 Sep. 2017
French workers, whom the British like to dismiss as holiday-hogging sluggards, are more productive than the British.
—The Economist, 31 Aug. 2017
Moneyshow, Forbes, 5 Mar. 2021
Noun
Scar then proceeds to desolate the kingdom, with the help of hyenas, while Simba, in exile, grows up to become a pleasure-hunting, grub-eating sluggard.
—Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 19 July 2019
Clearly, supervision at your job is lax, and your sluggard classmate is taking advantage of that.
—Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York Times, 11 Oct. 2017
Slug was – is – a variant on sluggard, which was actually used as a surname for some time, apparently.
—Ruth Walker, The Christian Science Monitor, 7 Sep. 2017
French workers, whom the British like to dismiss as holiday-hogging sluggards, are more productive than the British.
—The Economist, 31 Aug. 2017
Adjective
The stock really has not done much of anything in the last five years, the stock following a similar sluggard pattern of the company’s revenue line.
—Moneyshow, Forbes, 5 Mar. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sluggard
Noun
-
When Dina refuses an anesthetic slug of alcohol during the proceedings, Jesse gets the wind up.—
Mary McNamara,
Los Angeles Times,
26 May 2025
-
Rather than look to slug, Mookie Betts lifted a fly ball deep enough to advance Edman to third.—
Fabian Ardaya,
New York Times,
21 May 2025
Adjective
-
Soviet Russia, too, experienced periodic panics about slothful bureaucrats impeding the dictatorship of the proletariat.—
Charlie Tyson,
The New Yorker,
15 Mar. 2025
-
At our test track, the buzzy little SUV needed a slothful 9.2 seconds to hit 60 mph.—
Drew Dorian,
Car and Driver,
23 Dec. 2022
Noun
-
These capuchins have figured out how to use stones to crack open mollusks, snails and other edible treats that have hard shells.—
Elizabeth Landau,
New York Times,
19 May 2025
-
Some of the snails the DOC cares for are around 25 to 30 years old, the release said.—
Melina Khan,
USA Today,
12 May 2025
Adjective
-
Summer in New Jersey means long, lazy days at its famous beaches.—
Rachel Chang,
AFAR Media,
2 June 2025
-
Dresses should feel effortless but not lazy, and easy to wear all day.—
Kelsey Glennon,
Travel + Leisure,
31 May 2025
Noun
-
The main threats these forces faced along these front lines were not ISIS drones.—
Paul Iddon,
Forbes.com,
2 June 2025
-
The staff has been mapping every last crevice of salable land, a job that Barna, the operations V.P., told me may one day be done with drones.—
Paige Williams,
New Yorker,
2 June 2025
Adjective
-
With the use of additional biomarkers and prostate MRI, the diagnosis of men with prostate cancer is more precise and avoids the detection of low-risk indolent prostate cancer and rather focuses on the early detection and effective treatment of more clinically risky prostate cancer.—
Franklin D Gaylis,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
28 May 2025
-
Also, small, indolent prostate cancer is extremely common as men age, but rarely advances to serious disease.—
Arthur L. Kellermann,
Forbes.com,
21 May 2025
Noun
-
His discoveries promise to upset the gaming tables of every school of thought that wagers on new and untested art for idlers’ rewards: the love of novelty, the will to make or unmake reputations, the wish to be hip or au courant.—
Mark Greif,
Harper's Magazine,
26 July 2024
-
Their name exudes the essence of an idler and slacker, but women’s loafers themselves are quite the opposite.—
Gaby Keiderling,
Harper's BAZAAR,
19 Jan. 2023
Adjective
-
Expectations of real gains in livelihoods among China’s large, increasingly shiftless rural population will be much harder to fulfill in an era of slower growth.—
Scott Rozelle and Matthew Boswell,
Foreign Affairs,
5 Oct. 2022
-
After the volunteers slink back to Paddy’s, the most shiftless person on campus will once again be Principal Coleman (Janelle James), whose ineptitude and vanity don’t prevent her from advocating for the students from time to time.—
Hannah Giorgis,
The Atlantic,
9 Jan. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Sluggard.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sluggard. Accessed 11 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share