slow

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Taking a long time to move or go a short distance, or to perform an action; not quick in motion; proceeding at a low speed.
  2. Not happening in a short time; spread over a comparatively long time.
  3. Of reduced intellectual capacity; not quick to comprehend.
  4. Not hasty; not tending to hurry; acting with deliberation or caution.
  5. Behind in time; indicating a time earlier than the true time.
  6. Lacking spirit; deficient in liveliness or briskness.
  7. Not busy; lacking activity.
verb
  1. To make (something) run, move, etc. less quickly; to reduce the speed of.
  2. To keep from going quickly; to hinder the progress of.
  3. To become slow; to slacken in speed; to decelerate.
noun
  1. Someone who is slow; a sluggard.
  2. A slow song.
adv
  1. Slowly.

Pronunciation

/sləʊ/ En-uk-slow.ogg /slaː/ /sloʊ/ en-us-slow.ogg

Word forms

slow slower slowest slows slowing slowed

Etymology

From Middle English slaw, slow, from Old English slāw (“lazy; inert, slow”), from Proto-West Germanic *slaiw, from Proto-Germanic *slaiwaz (“blunt; dull; exhausted, faint, sluggish, weak, weary; listless, torpid; dim-witted, slow; lazy, slack”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *sleyH-u- (“bad”). Cognates Cognate with Dutch slee, sleeuw (“cramped, stiff; blunt; sour”), Danish sløv (“blunt; dull; apathetic, lethargic, listless, sluggish, torpid; drowsy”), Icelandic sljór (“dim-witted; blunt; jaded”), Norwegian Nynorsk sljo, slø, sløv (“blunt; weak; lazy”), Swedish slö (“dull; lazy, lethargic, slow, sluggish”).

Translations

Aragonese: lento Bulgarian: провле́чен Bulgarian: му́ден Czech: pomalý Finnish: hidas French: lent French: tardif German: langsam German: Zeit lassen German: zurückhaltend Greek: αργόσυρτος Greek: ανέτοιμος Italian: lento Latvian: lēns Macedonian: бавен Māori: hōtoa Māori: autō Portuguese: lento Spanish: lento Swahili: pole Swahili: aste Ukrainian: пові́льний Ngazidja Comorian: mpesi Irish: leasc Tibetan: བྲེལ་བ་མེད་པ
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