sluggish

adj

Etymology: Etymology tree English slug Proto-Indo-European *-iskos Proto-Germanic *-iskaz Proto-West Germanic *-isk Old English -isċ Middle English -ish English -ish English sluggish From slug + -ish.

1. Habitually idle and lazy; slothful; dull; inactive

   “a sluggish man”

   “[I]f he leaves the School poſſeſs'd of a ſluggiſh indolent Diſpoſition, and of Learning rather forc'd upon him than choſen, it is probable he will forget what he brought thence; but if he be active, emulous and aſpiring, he will certainly find Time for Reading and Thinking; for tho' it be a homely, it is a true Saying, that where there is a Will, there is a Way.”

2. Slow; having little motion.

   “Vp thou tame River, vvake; / And from the liquid limbes this ſlumber ſhake: / Thou drovvn'st thy ſelfe in inofficious ſleepe; / And theſe thy ſluggiſh vvaters ſeeme to creepe, / Rather than flovv.”

   “We float upon a sluggish stream, / We ride no rapids mad, / While life is all a tempered dream / And every joy half sad.”

3. Having no power to move oneself or itself; inert.

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

4. Characteristic of a sluggard; dull; stupid; tame; simple.
5. Exhibiting economic decline, inactivity, slow, or subnormal growth.

   “Inflation has been rising despite a sluggish economy.”

   “After an initial bounce back, the post-Covid Chinese economy has turned sluggish. Its property market - once a key driver of growth - is now mired in a credit crisis, exacerbating a domestic "debt bomb" that has ballooned from years of borrowing by local government and state-owned enterprises.”