Adjective: slow
Comparison Forms
Synthetic
| Comparative | slower |
| Superlative | slowest |
Perifrastic
Sample Sentences
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a slow train; a slow computer
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Turkey should always be cooked in a slow oven.
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Holding out her small olive hand before her captain, she said in mild and slowest Spanish, "Senor, I buried him;" then paused, struggled as against the writhed coilings of a snake, and cringing suddenly, leaped up, repeating in impassioned pain, "I buried him, my life, my soul!" [1854, Herman Melville, “The Encantadas”, in Putnam's Magazine:]
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Dotcom mania was slow in coming to higher education, but now it has the venerable industry firmly in its grip. Since the launch early last year of Udacity and Coursera, two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. [2013 July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:]
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Theſe changes in the Heav’ns, though ſlow, produc’d / Like change on Sea and Land, ſideral blaſt, / Vapour, and Miſt, and Exhalation hot, / Corrupt and Peſtilent: […] [1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, signature [Mm3], verso, lines 692–695:]
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Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads. [2013 May–June, Charles T. Ambrose, “Alzheimer’s Disease”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 200:]
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As of the current patch, Luke’s crouching Medium Punch has been nerfed. It will now have a larger hurtbox, in addition to having a slower recovery when the attack misses. [2024 February 27, Rishov Mukherjee, “Street Fighter 6 update 1.11 patch notes: JP, Luke nerfs, Ryu buff, & more”, in Dexerto:]
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Experienced classroom teachers are well acquainted with the attention-seeker, the shy girl, the aggressive boy, the poor concentrator, the slow student,[…] [1960, Dissertation Abstracts, volume 20, page 4007:]
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Hey, don't yell at Homer, just because he's a little slow. [1994, Greg Daniels, “Secrets of a Successful Marriage”, in The Simpsons, season 5, episode 22, spoken by Carl (Hank Azaria):]
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He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding. [1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs xiv:29:]
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And even after the emotional cast comes off, we need to be slow about getting deeply involved in a relationship again. [1999, Brian Paul Kaufman, K. Winston Caine, Prayer, Faith, and Healing: Cure Your Body, Heal Your Mind and Restore Your Soul:]
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That clock is slow.
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It was a slow news day, so the editor asked us to make our articles wordier.
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I'm just sitting here with a desk of cards, enjoying a slow afternoon.
Adjectives inflected like slow
sallow,
smooth,
slight,
sleigh,
sordid,
somber,
shweet,
shrill,
shrewd,
yellow,
yaller,
hard knock,
DRY,
Greek,
cut short,
unquiet,
unclean,
indiscreet,
chipper,
straicht, etc. (List truncated at 20 adjectives)
Etymology
1. 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”).
2. Cognates
3. 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”). See: Dutch Adjectives '
slee', Swedish Adjectives '
slö'.
Verbs referencing "slow"
Swedish Adjectives
slö, Dutch Adjectives
slee.