noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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UK:/sləʊθ/
US:/slɔθ/
US:/sloʊθ/
rhymes with -əʊθ
1
noun
Meaning 1
Alternative form of sloth (“slowness, slothfulness”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, alternative, archaic, uncountable
Examples
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.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
Slow economic growth.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
The state or condition of being slow; slowness.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
From Middle English slouthe, slewthe, from Old English slǣwþ (“sloth, indolence, laziness, inertness, torpor”), from Proto-Germanic *slaiwiþō (“slowness, lateness”), equivalent to slow + -th. Cognate with Scots sleuth (“sloth, slowness”).
Blend of slow + growth.
Recoinage from slow + -th (abstract nominal suffix).
