| / English Dictionary |
SLOW
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(of business) not active or brisk
Example:
a sluggish market
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
inactive (lacking activity; lying idle or unused)
Domain category:
business; business enterprise; commercial enterprise (the activity of providing goods and services involving financial and commercial and industrial aspects)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity
Example:
worked with the slow students
Synonyms:
dense; dim; dull; dumb; obtuse; slow
Classified under:
Similar:
stupid (lacking or marked by lack of intellectual acuity)
Derivation:
slowness (lack of normal development of intellectual capacities)
slowness (unskillfulness resulting from a lack of training)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Not moving quickly; taking a comparatively long time
Example:
slow but steady growth
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
sluggish; sulky; slow-moving (moving slowly)
long-play; long-playing ((used of records) playing at a slower speed and for a longer time than earlier records)
lazy (moving slowly and gently)
drawn-out ((used of speech) uttered slowly with prolonged vowels)
dilatory; laggard; pokey; poky (wasting time)
bumper-to-bumper (used of traffic)
Also:
gradual (proceeding in small stages)
unhurried (relaxed and leisurely; without hurry or haste)
Attribute:
fastness; speed; swiftness (a rate (usually rapid) at which something happens)
Antonym:
fast (acting or moving or capable of acting or moving quickly)
Derivation:
slowness (a rate demonstrating an absence of haste or hurry)
Sense 4
Meaning:
At a slow tempo
Example:
the band played a slow waltz
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
moderato ((of tempo) moderate)
larghissimo ((of tempo) as slow and broad as possible)
larghetto ((of tempo) less slow and broad than largo)
largo (very slow in tempo and broad in manner)
lentissimo ((of tempo) very slow)
lento ((of tempo) slow)
andante ((of tempo) moderately slow)
adagio ((of tempo) leisurely)
Domain category:
music (an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner)
Antonym:
fast (at a rapid tempo)
Derivation:
slowness (a rate demonstrating an absence of haste or hurry)
Sense 5
Meaning:
(used of timepieces) indicating a time earlier than the correct time
Example:
the clock is slow
Classified under:
Adjectives
Antonym:
fast ((used of timepieces) indicating a time ahead of or later than the correct time)
Sense 6
Meaning:
So lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness
Example:
other people's dreams are dreadfully wearisome
Synonyms:
boring; deadening; dull; ho-hum; irksome; slow; tedious; tiresome; wearisome
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
uninteresting (arousing no interest or attention or curiosity or excitement)
II. (verb)
Verb forms
Present simple: I / you / we / they slow ... he / she / it slows
Past simple: slowed
Past participle: slowed
-ing form: slowing
Sense 1
Meaning:
Lose velocity; move more slowly
Example:
The car decelerated
Synonyms:
decelerate; retard; slow; slow down; slow up
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "slow" is one way to...):
decrease; diminish; fall; lessen (decrease in size, extent, or range)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "slow"):
slow; slow down; slow up (cause to proceed more slowly)
delay; detain; hold up (cause to be slowed down or delayed)
Sentence frames:
Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Derivation:
slowing (a decrease in rate of change)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Become slow or slower
Example:
Production slowed
Synonyms:
slack; slacken; slow; slow down; slow up
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "slow" is one way to...):
weaken (become weaker)
Sentence frames:
Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Derivation:
slowing (a decrease in rate of change)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Cause to proceed more slowly
Example:
The illness slowed him down
Synonyms:
slow; slow down; slow up
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "slow" is one way to...):
decelerate; retard; slow; slow down; slow up (lose velocity; move more slowly)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "slow"):
bog; bog down (cause to slow down or get stuck)
clog; constipate (impede with a clog or as if with a clog)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something
III. (adverb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Without speed ('slow' is sometimes used informally for 'slowly')
Example:
please go slow so I can see the sights
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Domain usage:
colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Of timepieces
Example:
my watch is running behind
Synonyms:
behind; slow
Classified under:
Context examples:
Too many hours looking at smartphones and tablets 'slows down toddlers' language and reading development because it changes the structure of their brains.
(Too Much Screen Time Changes Structure of Toddlers' Brains, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
I believe the very same slow horse that Mr. Barkis drove was still at work.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
A substance found in soybeans that may slow down or stop the spread of cancer.
(Autoclave-resistant factor, NCI Dictionary)
Symptoms of arrhythmias include: • Fast or slow heart beat • Skipping beats • Lightheadedness or dizziness • Chest pain • Shortness of breath • Sweating
(Arrhythmia, NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)
They must keep as much together as they could; and James was talked to, and given a charge to go very slow and wait for the other carriage.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
“Come then, are you not ready?” said the Brabanter, who had watched with ill-concealed impatience the slow and methodic movements of his antagonist.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
They were too slow in laying hands upon him.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Oh!—how slow was the progress of time which yet kept them in ignorance!
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
A watch is always too fast or too slow.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
We go very slow. Maybe in two, three hours we go one mile.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
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