slow
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slow
- /sləʊ/ UK
- /slaː/ Northumbria
- /sloʊ/ US
Sounds like sloe · Rhymes with -əʊ
Where it comes from
From Middle English slaw, slow, from Old English slāw (“lazy; inert, slow”), from Proto-West Germanic *slaiw, from Proto-Germanic *slaiwaz (“blunt; dull; exhausted, faint, sluggish, weak, weary; listless, torpid; dim-witted, slow; lazy, slack”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *sleyH-u- (“bad”).
Cognates
Cognate with Dutch slee, sleeuw (“cramped, stiff; blunt; sour”), Danish sløv (“blunt; dull; apathetic, lethargic, listless, sluggish, torpid; drowsy”), Icelandic sljór (“dim-witted; blunt; jaded”), Norwegian Nynorsk sljo, slø, sløv (“blunt; weak; lazy”), Swedish slö (“dull; lazy, lethargic, slow, sluggish”).
adjective slower · slowest
- Taking a long time to move or go a short distance, or to perform an action; not quick in motion; proceeding at a low speed. a slow train; a slow computer
- Not happening in a short time; spread over a comparatively long time. Theſe changes in the Heav’ns, though ſlow, produc’d / Like change on Sea and Land, ſideral blaſt, / Vapour, and Miſt, and Exhalation hot, / Corrupt and Peſtilent: […]
- Of reduced intellectual capacity; not quick to comprehend. Experienced classroom teachers are well acquainted with the attention-seeker, the shy girl, the aggressive boy, the poor concentrator, the slow student,[…]
- Not hasty; not tending to hurry; acting with deliberation or caution. He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding.
- Behind in time; indicating a time earlier than the true time. That clock is slow.
- Lacking spirit; deficient in liveliness or briskness.
- Not busy; lacking activity. It was a slow news day, so the editor asked us to make our articles wordier.
Similar: moderate, careful, deliberate, prudent, dilatory, dull, inactive, tardy, slothful, sluggish, boring, crawling
verb slows · slowing · slowed
- To make (something) run, move, etc. less quickly; to reduce the speed of. slow the process
- To keep from going quickly; to hinder the progress of. slow the traffic
- To become slow; to slacken in speed; to decelerate. After about a minute, the creek bed vomited the debris into a gently sloped meadow. Saugstad felt the snow slow and tried to keep her hands in front of her.
noun slows
- Someone who is slow; a sluggard.
- A slow song.
adverb slower · slowest
- Slowly. That clock is running slow.
