English Explanatory Dictionary

sloth

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Laziness; slowness in the mindset; disinclination to action or labour.
  2. Any animal in the suborder Folivora.
  3. Any herbivorous, arboreal South American mammal of the families Choloepodidae and Bradypodidae, noted for its slowness and inactivity.
  4. Any of the extinct group of ground sloths.
  5. A group of bears.
verb
  1. To be idle; to idle (away time).

Pronunciation

/sləʊθ/ /slɒθ/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Knowledgeisking1-sloth.wav en-uk-sloth.ogg /slɔθ/ /slɑθ/

Word forms

sloth sloths sleuth sloath slowth slothing slothed

Etymology

From Middle English slouthe, slewthe (“laziness”), from Old English slǣwþ (“sloth, indolence, laziness, inertness, torpor”), from Proto-West Germanic *slaiwiþu, from Proto-Germanic *slaiwiþō (“slowness, lateness”), equivalent to slow + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with Scots sleuth (“sloth, slowness”).

Synonyms

tardigrade

Antonyms

diligence

Related words

slowth

Derived words

forsloth ground sloth Microsloth native sloth sloth animalcule sloth bear slothen slothful slothlike sloth monkey slothy tree sloth
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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