slow

Meanings

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.
• Not happening in a short time; spread over a comparatively long time.
• Of reduced intellectual capacity; not quick to comprehend.
• Not hasty; not tending to hurry; acting with deliberation or caution.
• Behind in time; indicating a time earlier than the true time.
• Lacking spirit; deficient in liveliness or briskness.
• Not busy; lacking activity.

Verb

• To make (something) run, move, etc. less quickly; to reduce the speed of.
• To keep from going quickly; to hinder the progress of.
• To become slow; to slacken in speed; to decelerate.

Noun

• Someone who is slow; a sluggard.
• A slow song.

Adverb

• Slowly.

Related

Similar words

• quiet, unbusy
• delay, hinder, retard
• decelerate, slacken

Opposite words

• accurate, fast
• hectic

Origin

• From Middle English slow, slaw, from Old English slāw ("sluggish, inert, slothful, late, tardy, torpid, slow"), from Proto-Germanic *slaiwaz ("blunt, dull, faint, weak, slack"), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lew- ("limp"). Cognate with Scots slaw ("slow"), Dutch sleeuw ("blunt, dull"), Low German slee ("dull, sluggish"), German schlehe, schleh, Danish sløv ("dull, torpid, drowsy"), Swedish slö ("slack, lazy"), Icelandic sljór ("dim-witted, slow").