sluggish

slug +‎ -ish

• IPA^(key): /ˈslʌɡɪʃ/

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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 990820804, 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 6412012, 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)​, Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Part of the Kings Entertainment in Passing to His Coronation [The Coronation Triumph]”, in The Workes of Ben Jonson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, OCLC 960101342, page 850:

     Vp thou tame River, wake; / And from the liquid limbes this ſlumber ſhake: / Thou drownſ't thy ſelfe in inofficious ſleepe; / And theſe thy ſluggish waters ſeeme to creepe, / Rather than flow.

   • 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.

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 sluggish economy.