| English Dictionary |
SLUGGISH
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Dictionary entry overview: What does sluggish mean?
• SLUGGISH (adjective)
The adjective SLUGGISH has 3 senses:
1. moving slowly
2. (of business) not active or brisk
3. slow and apathetic
Familiarity information: SLUGGISH used as an adjective is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Moving slowly
Synonyms:
sluggish; sulky
Context example:
a sluggish stream
Similar:
slow (not moving quickly; taking a comparatively long time)
Derivation:
sluggishness (the pace of things that move relatively slowly)
Sense 2
Meaning:
(of business) not active or brisk
Synonyms:
Context example:
a sluggish market
Similar:
inactive (lacking activity; lying idle or unused)
Domain category:
business; business enterprise; commercial enterprise (the activity of providing goods and services involving financial and commercial and industrial aspects)
Derivation:
sluggishness (the pace of things that move relatively slowly)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Slow and apathetic
Synonyms:
inert; sluggish; soggy; torpid
Context example:
a mind grown torpid in old age
Similar:
inactive (not active physically or mentally)
Derivation:
sluggishness (inactivity; showing an unusual lack of energy)
Context examples
Emma's spirits were mounted quite up to happiness; every thing wore a different air; James and his horses seemed not half so sluggish as before.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
This wide and sluggish river was the Coppermine.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
In our own case the excellent engines of the Esmeralda could disregard the sluggish flow of the stream, and we made as rapid progress as if we were navigating a stagnant lake.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Other symptoms may include painful bowel movements, and feeling bloated, uncomfortable, and sluggish.
(Constipation, NCI Dictionary)
A sluggish ditch deposited its mud at the prison walls.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
At early dawn they passed across the broad, sluggish, reed-girt stream—men, horses, and baggage in the flat ferry barges—and so journeyed on through the fresh morning air past Exbury to Lepe.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Acute or chronic inflammation of the iris and ciliary body characterized by exudates into the anterior chamber, discoloration of the iris, and constricted, sluggish pupil.
(Iridocyclitis, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)
If you feel nauseated, sluggish or shaky, seek emergency care.
(Diabetes Complications, NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)
Take your pet to the veterinarian if you notice: • Loss of appetite • Drinking a lot of water • Gaining or losing a lot of weight quickly • Strange behavior • Being sluggish and tired • Trouble getting up or down • Strange lumps
(Pet Health, NIH)
Below him flowed a wide and sluggish river.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
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