Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use sluggish in a sentence

25 example sentences · adjective

Sluggish means habitually idle and lazy; slothful; dull; inactive. Example: “Inflation has been rising despite a sluggish economy.”

Examples of sluggish by meaning

adjectiveHabitually idle and lazy; slothful; dull; inactive.

  • a sluggish man
  • He helps us to understand the insignificant points which mark the rapid undercurrents of the seemingly sluggish soul of Khalid.1910 January 12, Ameen Rihani, “On the Wharf of Enchantment”, in The Book of Khalid, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published...

adjectiveSlow; having little motion.

  • At first it is a sluggish stream (hence the name Deadwater) but begins to flow more swiftly before it reaches Kielder.1955 September, H. A. Vallance, “The Border Counties Line”, in Railway Magazine, page 594

adjectiveExhibiting 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.2023 November 15, Tessa Wong, “Xi Jinping arrives in US as his Chinese Dream sputters”, in BBC

More sentences with sluggish

  • Without proper exercise, sluggish fluids tend to settle in the limbs and oppilate the smaller veins.From the entry oppilate
  • The slushbox did nothing to improve an already sluggish response.From the entry slushbox
  • When people become weed-heads they become sluggish, lazy, stupid, and unconcerned.2016, Frank Ocean, “Be Yourself”, in Blonde. From the entry unconcerned
  • After a sluggish start to the season, Torino are on a roll.2015 February 9, Matthew Amalfitano, “Torino eyeing Europa League”, in Independent, UK, retrieved 26 Aug 2015. From the entry on a roll
  • The sea is sluggish and virtually tideless, much like a lake.1989 May, Priit J. Vesilind, “The Baltic: Arena of Power”, in National Geographic, volume 175, number 5, page 626. From the entry tideless
  • Bowfins, sometimes called Dog-fish, live in sluggish waters throughout eastern N.A.1967, George K. Reid, edited by Herbert S. Zim and George S. Fichter, Pond Life, New York: Golden Press, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 128. From the entry dogfish
  • Romance never sang to him her siren song, and Adventure had never shouted in his sluggish blood.1914, Jack London, “The Sea Farmer”, in The Strength of the Strong. From the entry siren song
  • Your eyeballs feel glassy, your brain parched and limbs sluggish.2021 February 17, Jenna Wortham, “The Rise of the Wellness App”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 07 Jan 2023. From the entry hit different
  • He didn't get sluggish or throw up.2012, Tony Bertauski, Halfskin: A Technothriller, →ISBN. From the entry buzzie
  • To salarians, other species seem sluggish and dull-witted.2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Salarians Codex entry. From the entry dull-witted
  • Where powder is sluggish, crudely transmitting your body movements to the snow, hardpack is the snow of precision.1995 February, Ski, page 36. From the entry hardpack
  • Only the four walls of his home still stood, blackened and smoking with the sluggish, stinking smoke that befouled the sea-wind.1983, Mary Stewart, chapter 5, in The Wicked Day, New York: William Morrow, page 53. From the entry befoul
  • The patient becomes listless, sluggish, irritable, perversed in desires, unreasonable and passes through varied stages of mental decay to ultimate insanity.1918 January, William Held, “The Epilepsy Problem”, in Iowa Homeopathic Journal, volume 11, number 8, page 13. From the entry perversed
  • “Supplies have risen dramatically as a result of that higher acreage but demand has stayed sluggish,” said Michael Magdovitz, senior commodity analyst at Rabobank.2023 December 2, Susannah Savage, “Corn’s sharp decline proves a bonanza for hedge funds”, in FT Weekend (Companies & Markets section)…. From the entry throw a wet blanket on
  • Because this sluggish thrips feeds openly on the underside of leaves, it is controlled by thorough coverage with insecticidal soap or oil.2004, Steve H. Dreistadt, Pests of Landscape Trees and Shrubs: An Integrated Pest Management Guide, Picture caption, page 157. From the entry thrips
  • But the Devils found another gear in the third period and found the energy that had been lacking throughout a sluggish second period.1999 March 26, Tarik El-Bashir, “Hockey: The Devils Tighten Their Grip On First”, in New York Times, retrieved 24 Oct 2015. From the entry find another gear
  • You can read it all right, but the pencil seems to be getting a little sluggish — better make a grab for a "mill."1986, Ham Radio Magazine, volume 19, page 66. From the entry mill
  • He was given to hanging out near the mouth of a sluggish stream which drained a big swamp far back in the spruce.1958, T.S. Denison, Hunting Adventures, page 123. From the entry ghost moose
  • Suppose we say that the wild, raging torrent captures the 'true spirit' of riverhood, that it is the 'real' thing while the sluggish version is a degenerate.1999, Keekok Lee, The Natural and the Artefactual, page 171. From the entry riverhood
  • Dissatisfied with Sailfin's sluggish response, he turned the iron wheel a bit more until the bubble rode backward, indicating that the submarine's stern had lifted relative to the dipping bow.2000, Overdue and Presumed Lost, by Arthur MacMahan, page 181. From the entry down bubble

Meaning of sluggish

  1. adjective Habitually idle and lazy; slothful; dull; inactive.
  2. adjective Slow; having little motion.
  3. adjective Having no power to move oneself or itself; inert.

Full definition of sluggish

Questions about sluggish in a sentence

How do you use sluggish in a sentence?
Sluggish is used as an adjective. For example: “Inflation has been rising despite a sluggish economy.”
What is a short sentence with sluggish?
“a sluggish man”
What does sluggish mean?
Sluggish means habitually idle and lazy; slothful; dull; inactive.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sluggish (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use sluggish in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/sluggish. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.