Word.ws English Dictionary

laggardly

laggardly adverb: in the manner of a laggard; sluggishly; slowly.

Adverb

laggardly (comparative more laggardly, superlative most laggardly)

  1. In the manner of a laggard; sluggishly; slowly.
    • They are in virtual contact above with the liver on the right side and the spleen on the left and move laggardly and to a slight degree with respiration.1917, Charles Lyman Greene, Medical Diagnosis for the Student and Practitioner, page 732
    • But none the less, he moved stiffly to the door in order to comply. His legs moved laggardly. Something within him repelled this motion of obedience.1917, Waldo David Frank, The Unwelcome Man: A Novel, page 108

Adjective

laggardly (comparative more laggardly, superlative most laggardly)

  1. Slow in manner; taking more time than is necessary; lagging behind.
    • For the most part the early adopters, early majority, and later majority can function in either an innovative system, laggardly system, or a system that has a combination of both.1986, James C. McCroskey, Virginia P. Richmond, Robert Allen Stewart, One on One: The Foundations of Interpersonal Communication, Prentice Hall
    • It is extremely important to discover why a county such as West Glamorgan, which is still home to a great number of native Welsh speakers, is more laggardly in its provision of Welsh language teaching than South Glamorgan ...1992, Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) : House of Commons official report

Examples of laggardly in a sentence

  • Justus and the major kept us moving laggardly.2016, Johnny D. Boggs, Summer of the Star: A Western Story, Blackstone Publishing, →ISBN:
  • Britain has considerable interest in completing the Single Market in services that has made much more laggardly progress than the free movement of persons and visible goods.2016, David Gowland, Britain and the European Union, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN, page 130:

Forms of laggardly

Adverb
comparativemore laggardly
superlativemost laggardly
Adjective
comparativemore laggardly
superlativemost laggardly

Origin of laggardly

From laggard + -ly.

Questions about laggardly

What does laggardly mean?
Laggardly means in the manner of a laggard; sluggishly; slowly.
How do you use laggardly in a sentence?
Justus and the major kept us moving laggardly.
What part of speech is laggardly?
Laggardly can be an adverb or an adjective.

Words near laggardly in the dictionary

  1. lagg
  2. Laggan
  3. laggar
  4. laggard
  5. laggardism
  6. laggardly
  7. laggardness
  8. laggards
  9. laggars
  10. lagged
  11. lagged behind

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: laggardly (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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