as in slug
a lazy person
tried to wake up the sluggards who were still sleeping at that late hour
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in slothful
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Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of sluggard
Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 19 July 2019
Clearly, supervision at your job is lax, and your sluggard classmate is taking advantage of that.
—Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York Times, 11 Oct. 2017
Slug was – is – a variant on sluggard, which was actually used as a surname for some time, apparently.
—Ruth Walker, The Christian Science Monitor, 7 Sep. 2017
French workers, whom the British like to dismiss as holiday-hogging sluggards, are more productive than the British.
—The Economist, 31 Aug. 2017
Moneyshow, Forbes, 5 Mar. 2021
Noun
Scar then proceeds to desolate the kingdom, with the help of hyenas, while Simba, in exile, grows up to become a pleasure-hunting, grub-eating sluggard.
—Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 19 July 2019
Clearly, supervision at your job is lax, and your sluggard classmate is taking advantage of that.
—Kwame Anthony Appiah, New York Times, 11 Oct. 2017
Slug was – is – a variant on sluggard, which was actually used as a surname for some time, apparently.
—Ruth Walker, The Christian Science Monitor, 7 Sep. 2017
French workers, whom the British like to dismiss as holiday-hogging sluggards, are more productive than the British.
—The Economist, 31 Aug. 2017
Adjective
The stock really has not done much of anything in the last five years, the stock following a similar sluggard pattern of the company’s revenue line.
—Moneyshow, Forbes, 5 Mar. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sluggard
Noun
-
Using alliums as companion plants for celery can deter various pests, including aphids, slugs, and snails.—
Lauren Landers,
Better Homes & Gardens,
28 Apr. 2026
-
The difference is that those other three teams are getting more slug from their sluggers.—
Abbey Mastracco,
New York Daily News,
28 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
That they would be regarded as slothful morons who aren't worth the price of a ticket of admission.—
Jim Cramer,
CNBC,
2 Feb. 2026
-
Soviet Russia, too, experienced periodic panics about slothful bureaucrats impeding the dictatorship of the proletariat.—
Charlie Tyson,
The New Yorker,
15 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
Our party waited 10 minutes to be seated and was served wine shortly thereafter, but the food came out at a snail’s pace.—
Heidi Finley,
Charlotte Observer,
28 Apr. 2026
-
The tide pools around Haystack and elsewhere along Cannon Beach are extraordinary, with colorful sea stars, anemones, crabs, snails, coral, sponges, and sea slugs.—
Kara Williams,
USA Today,
25 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Giants third base coach Hector Borg waved Lee home, trying to take advantage of the wet conditions and a lazy throw back to the infield, but the Dodgers nabbed Lee with feet to spare.—
Justice delos Santos,
Mercury News,
24 Apr. 2026
-
That film felt rushed, inconsistent, and lazy.—
Ian Miller OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The next night, Russia fired nineteen ballistic missiles, twenty-five cruise missiles, and six hundred and fifty-nine drones.—
Sudarsan Raghavan,
New Yorker,
28 Apr. 2026
-
In October 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin said missiles fired by Russian air defenses to target a Ukrainian drone that exploded near the aircraft had been responsible for the jet crash.—
Katie Hunt,
CNN Money,
28 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Furthermore, there is a risk of overdiagnosis, where the test detects a slow-growing, indolent cancer that would never have caused harm in a person’s lifetime, leading to unnecessary treatments, side effects and psychological burden.—
Jesse Pines,
Forbes.com,
8 Feb. 2026
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Every 4:3 shot is framed to maximize the social verticality of the club, and every sequence is edited to evoke the indolent energy of a hot car on a hot summer’s day.—
David Ehrlich,
IndieWire,
23 Jan. 2026
Noun
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His discoveries promise to upset the gaming tables of every school of thought that wagers on new and untested art for idlers’ rewards: the love of novelty, the will to make or unmake reputations, the wish to be hip or au courant.—
Mark Greif,
Harper's Magazine,
26 July 2024
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Their name exudes the essence of an idler and slacker, but women’s loafers themselves are quite the opposite.—
Gaby Keiderling,
Harper's BAZAAR,
19 Jan. 2023
Adjective
-
Why didn’t Tania just get one of her fellow Council wokesters to hire her shiftless, entitled kin?—
Howie Carr,
Boston Herald,
28 Sep. 2025
-
The film, like How to Train Your Dragon, is about a shiftless youngster (Lilo, a Hawaiian girl who has been acting out since the death of her parents) bonding with a fantasy creature (Stitch, a blue alien experiment designed as a weapon of destruction).—
David Sims,
The Atlantic,
13 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Sluggard.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sluggard. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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