sloth

== English == === 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 (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with Scots sleuth (“sloth, slowness”). === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /sləʊθ/, /slɒθ/ (General American) IPA(key): /slɔθ/ (cot–caught merger) IPA(key): /slɑθ/ (New Zealand) IPA(key): /slɒθ/ Rhymes: -əʊθ, -ɒθ === Noun === sloth (countable and uncountable, plural sloths) (uncountable) Laziness; slowness of mind; disinclination to action or labour; a feeling combining indifference and lethargy; a dragging idleness. Antonyms: diligence, liveliness Synonyms: acedia, slothfulness (countable) Any animal in the suborder Folivora. (especially) Any herbivorous, arboreal South American mammal of the families Choloepodidae and Bradypodidae, noted for its slowness and inactivity. (paleontology) Any of the extinct group of ground sloths. (collective, rare, countable) A group of bears. ==== Usage notes ==== Sloth is one of the seven deadly sins. ==== Synonyms ==== (animal): tardigrade (obsolete) ==== Hyponyms ==== (animal): one-toed sloth, two-toed sloth, three-toed sloth, four-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) (obsolete, intransitive, transitive) To be idle; to idle (away time). === Further reading === “sloth”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “sloth”, in The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC. === Anagrams === Holts, Loths, holts, loths