sluff off

Meanings

1. 1phrasephrasal verbinformalAmerican

   To avoid doing work or a duty by being lazy or careless about it.

   Grammar: Can have no object (he sluffs off) or an object (sluff off your chores).

   Patterns

   • sluff off
   • sluff off something

   He tends to sluff off whenever the boss leaves the room.

   You cannot sluff off your homework and expect good grades.

   The new hire started to sluff off after the first month.

2. 2phrasetransitiveinformal

   To treat something as unimportant and dismiss it without much thought.

   Grammar: Takes an object: sluff off a warning.

   Patterns

   • sluff something off

   She sluffed off the criticism with a shrug.

   Do not sluff off the warning signs.

   They sluffed off his concerns as nonsense.

Word forms

Common combinations

sluff off work

He was fired for sluffing off work again and again.

sluff off responsibility

Managers cannot sluff off responsibility when things go wrong.

sluff off class

Some students sluff off class on sunny days.

sluff off a warning

It is a mistake to sluff off a safety warning.

always sluffing off

Teammates got tired of him always sluffing off.

Synonyms and how they differ

slack off

Is the most common everyday term for working less hard, and sounds more natural than sluff off.

shirk

Is stronger and suggests avoiding a duty deliberately, and fits written English.

goof off

Is playful and suggests wasting time rather than avoiding a specific duty.

Opposites

Word family

sluffer noun

a person who avoids work, informal

slough verb

to shed or cast off, related by sound and origin

slack adjective

careless or not tight

Commonly confused: sluff off or slough off?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “sluff off”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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