slow
UK /sləʊ/ · US /sloʊ/ adjective, verb, noun, adverb
Forms slower slowest slows slowing slowed
- adjective Taking a long time to move or go a short distance, or to perform an action; not quick in motion; proceeding at a low speed. “a slow train; a slow computer”
- adjective Not happening in a short time; spread over a comparatively long time.
- adjective (informal, somewhat derogatory) Of reduced intellectual capacity; not quick to comprehend.
- adjective Not hasty; not tending to hurry; acting with deliberation or caution.
- adjective (of a clock or the like) Behind in time; indicating a time earlier than the true time. “That clock is slow.”
- adjective Lacking spirit; deficient in liveliness or briskness.
- adjective (of a period of time) Not busy; lacking activity. “It was a slow news day, so the editor asked us to make our articles wordier.”
- verb (transitive) To make (something) run, move, etc. less quickly; to reduce the speed of. “slow the process”
- verb (transitive) To keep from going quickly; to hinder the progress of. “slow the traffic”
- verb (intransitive) To become slow; to slacken in speed; to decelerate.
- noun Someone who is slow; a sluggard.
- noun (music) A slow song.
- adverb Slowly. “That clock is running slow.”
Synonyms
deliberate gradual dull-witted behind boring quiet unbusy moderate careful prudent dilatory dull inactive tardy slothful sluggish crawling slack slow-moving languid decelerate slow down slow up retard slacken dense dim dumb obtuse deadening
Antonyms
fast quick rapid swift abrupt sudden keen quick-witted hasty precipitate prompt accurate
Etymology
From Middle English slaw, slow, from Old English slāw (“lazy; inert, slow”), from Proto-West Germanic *slaiw, from Proto-Germanic *slaiwaz (“blunt; dull; exhausted, faint, sluggish, weak, weary; listless, torpid; dim-witted, slow; lazy, slack”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *sleyH-u- (“bad”).
Cognate with Dutch slee, sleeuw (“cramped, stiff; blunt; sour”), Danish sløv (“blunt; dull; apathetic, lethargic, listless, sluggish, torpid; drowsy”), Icelandic sljór (“dim-witted; blunt; jaded”), Norwegian Nynorsk sljo, slø, sløv (“blunt; weak; lazy”), Swedish slö (“dull; lazy, lethargic, slow, sluggish”).
Webster’s 1913
- imp. of Slee, to slay. Slew. Chaucer.
- adjective Moving a short space in a relatively long time; not swift; not quick in motion; not rapid; moderate; deliberate; as, a slow stream; a slow motion.
- adjective Not happening in a short time; gradual; late.
- adverb Slowly.
Etymology [OE. slow, slaw, AS. slaw; akin to OS. sl blunt, dull, D. sleeuw, slee, sour, OHG. sl blunt, dull, Icel. sl, sl, Dan. slöv, Sw. slö. Cf. Sloe, and Sloth.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “slow”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details