different between slowth vs sloth

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /sl???/
• (US) IPA^(key): /sl??/, /slo??/
• Rhymes: -???

Etymology 1

From Middle English slouthe, slewthe, from Old English sl?wþ (“sloth, indolence, laziness, inertness, torpor”), from Proto-Germanic *slaiwiþ? (“slowness, lateness”), equivalent to slow +? -th. Cognate with Scots sleuth (“sloth, slowness”).

Noun

slowth (uncountable)

1. (archaic) Alternative form of sloth
   • October 15, 1777, George Washington, to Governor George Clinton

     […] but such was the reduced state of our Continental regiments, after the battle of Brandywine, and such the slowth and difficulty of procuring reinforcements of militia from the southward, […] (1890 edition)

   • December 14, 1813, Thomas Jefferson, letter to Alexis Marie Rochon

     […] are so many and great, that it is wonderful to me, that in a course of 30 years, it is not yet brought into general use. it is one of the remarkable proofs of the slowth with which improvements in the arts & sciences advance.

Related terms

• sloth

Etymology 2

Blend of slow +? growth

Noun

slowth (uncountable)

1. Slow economic growth.
   • 1980, Martin Kupferman, Maurice D. Levi, Slowth, the changing economy and how you can successfully cope:

     Slowth lies behind the difficulties each of us faces in achieving the standard of living we desire.

Etymology 3

Recoinage slow +? -th

Noun

slowth (uncountable)

1. The state or condition of being slow; slowness.
   • 1966, Flying Magazine:

     Good old-fashioned slowth is being looked at with new interest, as is exemplified by such old antiques as the old Douglas Skyraider. And, of course the helicopter, slowest of all, so slow you can easily make one go backwards.

   • 1983, High fidelity Musical America:

     The tempo of the introduction, which Mahler has marked to be slow and dragging, is of the utmost "slowth" (if I may use such a word to denote the creepy, crawling atmosphere thus created).

   • 2006, CPU speed: new computer necessary?:

     The slowth may have been caused by various software issues rather than anything to do with hardware.

Anagrams

• thowls

English

Alternative forms

• sloath, slowth (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English slouthe, slewthe (“laziness”), from Old English sl?wþ (“sloth, indolence, laziness, inertness, torpor”), from Proto-Germanic *slaiwiþ? (“slowness, lateness”), equivalent to slow +? -th. Cognate with Scots sleuth (“sloth, slowness”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sl???/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /sl??/
• (cot–caught merger, Canada) IPA^(key): /sl??/
• (General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /sl??/
• Rhymes: -???, -??

Noun

sloth (countable and uncountable, plural sloths)

1. (uncountable) Laziness; slowness in the mindset; disinclination to action or labour.
   • 1758, Benjamin Franklin, Preliminary Address to the Pennsylvania Almanac

     Sloth, like rust, consumes faster than labour wears.

2. (countable) A herbivorous, arboreal South American mammal of the families Megalonychidae and Bradypodidae, noted for its slowness and inactivity.
3. (rare) A collective term for a group of bears.

Usage notes

Sloth is one of the seven deadly sins.

Synonyms

• (animal): tardigrade

Hyponyms

• (animal): two-toed sloth, three-toed sloth

Derived terms

Related terms

• slowth

Translations

Verb

sloth (third-person singular simple present sloths, present participle slothing, simple past and past participle slothed)

1. (obsolete, intransitive, transitive) To be idle; to idle (away time).

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Gower to this entry?)

   • 1676, John Bunyan, The Strait Gate, or, Great Difficulty of Going to Heaven, London: Francis Smith, p. 69,^[1]

     […] the most of professors are for imbezzeling, mispending and slothing away their time, their talents, their opportunities to do good in […]

   • 1677, Hannah Woolley, The Compleat Servant-Maid, London: T. Passinger, p. 2,^[2]

     That you endeavour carefully to please your Lady, Master or Mistress, be faithful, diligent and submissive to them, encline not to sloth or laze in bed, but rise early in a morning.

Further reading

• sloth in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• sloth in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Loths, holts, loths