sloth
pronunciation
How to pronounce sloth in British English:
UK [sləʊθ]
How to pronounce sloth in American English:
US [sloʊθ]
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- Noun:
- a disinclination to work or exert yourself
- any of several slow-moving arboreal mammals of South America and Central America; they hang from branches back downward and feed on leaves and fruits
- apathy and inactivity in the practice of virtue (personified as one of the deadly sins)
Word Origin
- sloth (n.)
- late 12c., "indolence, sluggishness," formed from Middle English slou, slowe (see slow (adj.)) + abstract formative -th (2). Replaced Old English slæwð "sloth, indolence." Sense of "slowness, tardiness" is from mid-14c. As one of the deadly sins, it translates Latin accidia. The slow-moving mammal first so called 1610s, a translation of Portuguese preguiça "slowness, slothfulness," from Latin pigritia "laziness" (compare Spanish perezosa "slothful," also "the sloth").
Example
- 1. Franklin : sloth and silence are a fool 's virtues .
- 2. Isn 't there anyone who cares about sid the sloth ?
- 3. Afterward , all I could do was crawl from the table to the couch to sloth off for a few hours .
- 4. Thegiant ground sloth of texas . Siberianmammoths . Abear-size wombat in australia .
- 5. The top east asia specialist at the state department has still not been confirmed , though that has more to do with the senate 's sloth than with mr obama 's negligence .