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slow

adj.
A1 Beginner Oxford US //ˈsɫoʊ// UK //slˈəʊ// slow General-service Informal Vulgar

adj. taking a long time to move or happen. You use this to describe something that does not have much speed.

adj. moving, acting, or happening without much speed. Often modified by degree adverbs like 'very' or 'quite'.


SIMPLE

The traffic is very slow today.

CONTEXTUAL

The internet connection is so slow that I cannot download the video for our meeting.

COMPLEX

Economists warned that a slow recovery could lead to long-term unemployment and reduced consumer spending across the region.

Synonyms
Antonyms
Origin

From Middle English slow, slaw, from Old English slāw (“sluggish, inert, slothful, late, tardy, torpid, slow”), from Proto-West Germanic slaiw, from Proto-Germanic slaiwaz (“blunt, dull, faint, weak, slack”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *sleyH-u- (“bad”). Cognate with Scots slaw (“slow”), West Frisian sleau (“slow, dull, lazy”), Dutch sleeuw (“blunt, dull”), Low German slee (“dull, sluggish”), German schlehe, schleh (“dull, exhausted, faint”), Danish sløv (“dull, torpid, drowsy”), Swedish slö (“slack, lazy”), Icelandic sljór (“dim-witted, slow”).

Usage

Typically placed before a noun or after a linking verb like 'be' or 'become'.

Pitfall

He drives very slow.He drives very slowly.While 'slow' is sometimes used as an adverb in informal speech, 'slowly' is the standard form for modifying a verb.

Idioms7 entries

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