slothful C2+ Topic:Describing People US /ˈslɔθfəl/ UK /ˈsləʊθfʊl/ See IPA manual Meanings 1 adj reluctant to work or exert oneself; lazy and indolent His slothful habits cost him the promotion. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 adj · reluctant to work or exert... lazyidleindolentsluggishlethargictorpid ↔ Opposites diligentindustriousenergeticactive Word family Derived forms slothfullyslothfulness Related forms slothslow Etymology AI details From sloth (from Old English slǣwth 'laziness', from slāw 'slow') plus the suffix -ful. slāw Old English View etymology graph -> Topics Describing People Word Formation & Derivatives External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # slothful **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** adj **IPA (US):** /ˈslɔθfəl/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈsləʊθfʊl/ ## Meanings 1. reluctant to work or exert oneself; lazy and indolent ## Examples - His slothful habits cost him the promotion. ## Synonyms - lazy - idle - indolent - sluggish - lethargic - torpid ## Antonyms - diligent - industrious - energetic - active ## Derived Forms - slothfully - slothfulness ## Related Forms - sloth - slow ## Roots and Affixes - Root: slāw ## Etymology From sloth (from Old English slǣwth 'laziness', from slāw 'slow') plus the suffix -ful. ## AI Etymology Slothful comes from sloth (from Old English slǣwth 'laziness', from slāw 'slow') plus the suffix -ful. The historical chain includes Old English slāw. The quoted older senses, "laziness" and "slow", supply the semantic anchors for slothful. The formation is best read as suffixal and borrowed: the word slothful carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a adj, "reluctant to work or exert oneself; lazy and indolent". English derivatives include slothfully and slothfulness; related English forms include sloth and slow. The result is a adj whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization. ## Topics - Describing People - Word Formation & Derivatives markdown