different between sluggish vs languorous

English

Etymology

slug +? -ish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sl????/

Adjective

sluggish (comparative sluggisher or more sluggish, superlative sluggishest or most sluggish)

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

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:lazy

   • c. 1874, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ovid in Exile

     And the sluggish land slumbers in utter neglect.
2. Slow; having little motion.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:slow

   Antonym: nimble

   • 1913, Paul Laurence Dunbar, At Sunset Time

     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.
   • 1695, John Woodward, An Essay toward a Natural History of the Earth and Terrestrial Bodies

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

4. Characteristic of a sluggard; dull; stupid; tame; simple.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:stupid

5. Exhibiting economic decline, inactivity, slow or subnormal growth.

Derived terms

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• langorous
• langourous
• languourous

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?læ???r?s/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?læ?(?)?r?s/
• Hyphenation: lan?guo?rous

Etymology

From Middle French langoreux

Adjective

languorous (comparative more languorous, superlative most languorous)

1. lacking energy, spirit, liveliness or vitality; languid, lackadaisical.
   • 8 August 2018, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky in AV Club, Jason Statham fighting a giant shark should be a lot more fun than The Meg

     After a languorous stretch of exposition that introduces a lot of pseudoscientific mumbo-jumbo and enough supporting characters to fill a Dickens novel (played by the likes of Rainn Wilson, Cliff Curtis, and Ruby Rose), we follow a three-person submersible down to the ocean depths.

Related terms

• languid
• languish
• languor

Translations