sloth C2+ Topic:Animals US /slɔθ/ UK /sləʊθ/ See IPA manual Meanings 1 noun habitual laziness; also a slow-moving tropical mammal His sloth meant the garden was left choked with weeds. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 noun · habitual laziness; also a... lazinessidlenessindolencetorporlethargysluggishness ↔ Opposites diligenceindustryenergyactivity Word family Derived forms slothfulslothfulness Related forms slow Etymology AI details From Middle English slowth, slewthe, from Old English slǣwth ('laziness'), from slǣw, slāw ('slow') plus the noun suffix -th. slāw Old English View etymology graph -> Topics Animals External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # sloth **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** noun **IPA (US):** /slɔθ/ **IPA (UK):** /sləʊθ/ ## Meanings 1. habitual laziness; also a slow-moving tropical mammal ## Examples - His sloth meant the garden was left choked with weeds. ## Synonyms - laziness - idleness - indolence - torpor - lethargy - sluggishness ## Antonyms - diligence - industry - energy - activity ## Derived Forms - slothful - slothfulness ## Related Forms - slow ## Roots and Affixes - Root: slāw ## Etymology From Middle English slowth, slewthe, from Old English slǣwth ('laziness'), from slǣw, slāw ('slow') plus the noun suffix -th. ## AI Etymology Sloth comes from Middle English slowth, slewthe, from Old English slǣwth ('laziness'), from slǣw, slāw ('slow') plus the noun suffix -th. The historical chain includes Old English slāw. Older glosses in the chain include "laziness" and "slow", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, sloth is best read as suffixal formation and borrowing, yielding an English noun shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as a noun, with the sense "habitual laziness; also a slow-moving tropical mammal". English derivatives include slothful and slothfulness; related forms include slow. The result is an English noun whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning. ## Topics - Animals markdown