Meaning & use
sloth
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Meanings
nouncountable
A slow-moving tree-dwelling mammal of Central and South America that hangs upside down from branches and eats leaves.
Grammar: Plural is sloths: two sloths hung from the branch.
Patterns
- a sloth in something
The sloth moved so slowly that the tourists thought it was asleep.
We saw a baby sloth clinging to its mother in the rainforest.
A sloth can spend most of its life in the same tree.
noununcountableformalliterary
Unwillingness to work or make an effort; habitual laziness.
Grammar: No plural and no article: his sloth annoyed the team.
Patterns
- sink into sloth
His sloth meant that the project was never finished.
The manager warned that sloth would not be tolerated.
Years of comfort led the family into sloth.
noununcountablereligion
In Christian teaching, one of the seven deadly sins, meaning spiritual or moral laziness.
Grammar: Often capitalised in lists of sins: pride, envy and sloth.
Patterns
- the sin of sloth
Sloth is listed among the seven deadly sins.
The priest spoke about the sin of sloth.
In the poem, sloth is shown as a sleepy figure.
Word forms
| plural | sloths |
|---|
Common combinations
- two-toed sloth
- The two-toed sloth is more active at night.
- three-toed sloth
- A three-toed sloth was resting near the river.
- sloth bear
- The sloth bear is a different animal that lives in India.
- sink into sloth
- Without a goal, he began to sink into sloth.
- slow as a sloth
- On Monday mornings I move as slow as a sloth.
Synonyms and how they differ
- laziness
- Laziness is the everyday word and is far more common than sloth in conversation.
- idleness
- Idleness means simply not working, even if for a good reason, while sloth carries moral blame.
- indolence
- Indolence is formal and suggests a pleasant dislike of exertion, rather than the heavier fault of sloth.
Opposites
Word family
- slothful adjective
- lazy and unwilling to work
- slothfully adverb
- in a lazy way
- slothfulness noun
- the quality of being lazy
Commonly confused: sloth or slow?
sloth vs slow
Slow describes speed in general, while sloth is a noun that names the animal or the fault of laziness.
Practice
Which word names an animal that hangs upside down in trees and moves very slowly?
Choose one answer.
A sloth is the slow tree-dwelling mammal. Moth is a rhyming insect, so it is the tempting wrong choice, but it does not fit the description.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sloth”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.