sloth

English

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sloth

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• sleuth (obsolete except for a group of bears)
• sloath, slowth (obsolete)

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. Cognate with Scots sleuth (“sloth, slowness”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sləʊθ/, /slɒθ/

  • Audio (UK)

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /slɔθ/
• (cot–caught merger, Canada) IPA^(key): /slɑθ/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /slɒθ/
• Rhymes: -əʊθ, -ɒθ

Noun

sloth (countable and uncountable, plural sloths)

1. (uncountable) Laziness; slowness in the mindset; disinclination to action or labour.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC, lines 787–792:

     Who having ſpilt much blood, and don much waſte / Subduing Nations, and achievd thereby / Fame in the World, high titles, and rich prey, / Shall change thir courſe to pleaſure, eaſe, and ſloth, / Surfet, and luſt, till wantonneſs and pride / Raiſe out of friendſhip hoſtil deeds in Peace.

   • 1758, Benjamin Franklin, Preliminary Address to the Pennsylvania Almanac:

     Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labour wears.

2. (countable) A herbivorous, arboreal South American mammal of the families Megalonychidae and Bradypodidae, noted for its slowness and inactivity.
3. (rare) A collective term for a group of bears.

Usage notes

Sloth is one of the seven deadly sins.

Synonyms

• (animal): tardigrade

Antonyms

• diligence

Hyponyms

• (animal): two-toed sloth, three-toed sloth, Australian sloth, ground sloth, pale-throated sloth

Derived terms

Related terms

• slowth

Translations

Verb

sloth (third-person singular simple present sloths, present participle slothing, simple past and past participle slothed)

1. (obsolete, intransitive, transitive) To be idle; to idle (away time).
   • 1676, John Bunyan, The Strait Gate, or, Great Difficulty of Going to Heaven‎, London: Francis Smith, page 69:

     […] the most of professors are for imbezzeling, mispending and slothing away their time, their talents, their opportunities to do good in […]

   • 1677, Hannah Woolley, The Compleat Servant-Maid‎, London: T. Passinger, page 2:

     That you endeavour carefully to please your Lady, Master or Mistress, be faithful, diligent and submissive to them, encline not to sloth or laze in bed, but rise early in a morning.

Further reading

• “sloth”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “sloth”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Holts, Loths, holts, loths