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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Sluggishness

Sluggish \Slug"gish\, a.

  1. Habitually idle and lazy; slothful; dull; inactive; as, a sluggish man.

  2. Slow; having little motion; as, a sluggish stream.

  3. Having no power to move one's self or itself; inert.

    Matter, being impotent, sluggish, and inactive, hath no power to stir or move itself.
    --Woodward.

    And the sluggish land slumbers in utter neglect.
    --Longfellow.

  4. Characteristic of a sluggard; dull; stupid; tame; simple. [R.] ``So sluggish a conceit.''
    --Milton.

    Syn: Inert; idle; lazy; slothful; indolent; dronish; slow; dull; drowsy; inactive. See Inert. [1913 Webster] -- Slug"gish*ly, adv. -- Slug"gish*ness, n.

Wiktionary
sluggishness

n. 1 The property of being sluggish, unable or unwilling to act quickly. 2 The state of economic decline, inactivity, slow or subnormal growth.

WordNet
sluggishness
  1. n. a state of comatose torpor (as found in sleeping sickness) [syn: lethargy, lassitude]

  2. inactivity; showing an unusual lack of energy [syn: languor, lethargy, phlegm]

Usage examples of "sluggishness".

I turned away from every opportunity of growth, held back always by sluggishness or fear or blank obtuseness, smothering the dim light in me at every step by my self-generated fog of trivial cravings.

Kevin applied full throttle, but was disappointed at the sluggishness of his craft with only one turbofan providing the thrust, even in full afterburner.

Its richness and nonlinear nature more than compensated for the relative sluggishness of those peristaltic ripples of meaning and allusion that took so many minutes to sweep across the packed miles.

Even among his computer-community colleagues, who are hardly known for mental sluggishness, Kapor strikes one forcefully as a very intelligent man.

Yet they serve to break down isolations of sympathy, all sorts of physical and intellectual sluggishness and the development of unsocial preoccupations of many sorts.

Fogg, he was much more restless, counting and recounting the days passed over, uttering maledictions when the train stopped, and accusing it of sluggishness, and mentally blaming Mr.

The deliquescing, the warmth that had run through it, was gone, overridden by a certain sluggishness of foot, a shortness of breath.

In spite of his youth he was respected throughout the bunker and in contrast to the normal sluggishness of spirit that marked the survivors of the Great War of Isan everyone was immediately ready to join Killarog in the dangerous undertaking.

The heat of the drink flowed through her, dispersing the sluggishness of her mind and easing her muscles.

With tortured sluggishness the great vehicle clawed its way to the surface of the sea bottom, shook off the stone and ooze that trailed in a huge cloudy river from its rear end, and rolled onto the barren terrain.

The guerillas are taking a heavy toll on food distribution networks—trucking centers, packing plants, warehouses—and utilities infrastructure—electrical power generating plants, sewage treatment facilities, public transportation hubs—that cannot be replaced at Jefferson's current level of industrial sluggishness.

His spirit seemed to awaken from its sluggishness, and his memory brought back to him all the merry greenwood life--how the birds were singing blithely there this bright morning, and how his loved companions and friends were feasting and making merry, or perhaps talking of him with sober speech.

The sluggishness of the motion told her it was taking water and would sink in a few hours.