SLUGGISHNESS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does sluggishness mean? 

• SLUGGISHNESS (noun)
  The noun SLUGGISHNESS has 3 senses:

1. a state of comatose torpor (as found in sleeping sickness)

2. the pace of things that move relatively slowly

3. inactivity; showing an unusual lack of energy

  Familiarity information: SLUGGISHNESS used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SLUGGISHNESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A state of comatose torpor (as found in sleeping sickness)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

lassitude; lethargy; sluggishness

Hypernyms ("sluggishness" is a kind of...):

torpidity; torpor (a state of motor and mental inactivity with a partial suspension of sensibility)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sluggishness"):

hebetude (mental lethargy or dullness)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The pace of things that move relatively slowly

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Context example:

the sluggishness of the compass in the Arctic cold

Hypernyms ("sluggishness" is a kind of...):

pace; rate (the relative speed of progress or change)

Derivation:

sluggish ((of business) not active or brisk)

sluggish (moving slowly)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Inactivity; showing an unusual lack of energy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

flatness; languor; lethargy; phlegm; sluggishness

Context example:

the general appearance of sluggishness alarmed his friends

Hypernyms ("sluggishness" is a kind of...):

inactiveness; inactivity; inertia (a disposition to remain inactive or inert)

Derivation:

sluggish (slow and apathetic)