Word.ws English Dictionary

slouch

/ˈslɐʊ̯t͡ʃ/UK/ˈslaʊ̯t͡ʃ/

slouch noun: a hanging down of the head; a drooping posture; a limp appearance.

Noun

slouch (plural slouches)

  1. A hanging down of the head; a drooping posture; a limp appearance.
    • He sat with an unenthusiastic slouch.
  2. Any depression or hanging down, as of a hat brim.
    • The plant hung in a permanent slouch.
  3. Someone who is slow to act.
    • In any case, Scotland has been no slouch at national invention. The Greek temple to commemorate James Thomson wasn’t the only monument raised by the 11th Earl of Buchan, who was a friend and neighbour of Walter Scott, and as great a romancer in his obsession with ruins, battlements and fancy dress.2014 September 16, Ian Jack, “Is this the end of Britishness”, in The Guardian
    • Its Rotten Tomatoes score — 97 percent — is similar to that of “The Godfather” and “Schindler’s List.” Plus, unlike those latter two slouches, this cartoon has singalong screenings in the United States, Britain and Australia.2025 August 16, Euny Hong, “‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Is My Kind of Globalism”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
    Antonyms:
    achiever, go-getter
  4. (dated) An awkward, heavy, clownish fellow.

Verb

slouch (third-person singular simple present slouches, present participle slouching, simple past and past participle slouched)

  1. (intransitive) To hang or droop; to adopt a limp posture
    • Do not slouch when playing a flute.
    Synonyms:
    stoop, droop, loll, slump
  2. (intransitive) To walk in a clumsy, lazy manner.
    • I slouched to the fridge to see if there was anything to eat.
  3. (transitive) To cause to hang down or droop; to depress.
    • […] then he slouched his head down on the table and pretended to sleep.1896, Duncan Campbell Scott, In the Village of Viger, page 107
    • Disappointment slouched him into the pew.2012, Kim Vogel Sawyer, When Hope Blossoms, page 281
    Synonyms:
    sag

slouch meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam

slouch in Tamil

ஒழுங்கற்ற நடை

slouch in Urdu

بےڈھب, مریل, جھکنا

slouch in Bengali

কুঁজো হয়ে বসা, হাঁটা

slouch in Malayalam

slump, hunch, loll
തലതാഴ്ത്തുക, കഴുത്തൊടിച്ചിടുക, ക്ഷീണിച്ചു മന്ദമായി നടക്കുക, കൂനുക, കുഴഞ്ഞിരിക്കുക, ഞണുമിണുക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
slouch in Kannada
ಅವಲಕ್ಷಣದವನು, ವಕ್ರಮನುಷ್ಯ, ಸೋಮಾರಿ, ಅಸಮರ್ಥ

Examples of slouch in a sentence

  • Don’t be a worthless slouch! Go get yourself a job.
  • We were slouched deep into the cushions, our bodies more like gelatin than anything else.
  • Could that listless-haired, torn-jeansed, slouching castaway among those shining angel-girls really be me?

All 27 example sentences with slouch

Synonyms of slouch

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of slouch

Forms of slouch

Noun
pluralslouches
Verb
third-person singular presentslouches
present participleslouching
past participleslouched
pastslouched

Plural of slouch: slouches

Origin of slouch

Unclear. Perhaps from Middle English slugge, from Old Norse slókr (“lazy fellow”). See also Swedish sloka (“to slouch, wilt”), related to Swedish slak (“slack, soft and flexible”) and Latin laxus (“loose, slack”).

Words formed from slouch

Phrases with slouch

Words that rhyme with slouch

Questions about slouch

What does slouch mean?
Slouch means a hanging down of the head; a drooping posture; a limp appearance.
What is slouch in Tamil?
Slouch in Tamil is ஒழுங்கற்ற நடை. See Slouch meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is slouch?
Slouch can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce slouch?
Slouch is pronounced /ˈslaʊ̯t͡ʃ/ (UK).
What is the plural of slouch?
The plural of slouch is slouches.

Words near slouch in the dictionary

  1. slotting machine
  2. slotting machines
  3. slottings
  4. Slotwiner
  5. slotwise
  6. slouch
  7. slouch hat
  8. slouch hats
  9. slouched
  10. sloucher
  11. slouchers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: slouch (page history and authors); slouch (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); slouch (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); slouch (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); slouch (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); slouch (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-slouch.ogg.

Cite this entry: “slouch.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/slouch. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.