- any of several shaggy-coated arboreal edentate mammals of the family Bradypodidae, esp Bradypus tridactylus (three-toed sloth or ai) or Choloepus didactylus (two-toed sloth or unau), of Central and South America. They are slow-moving, hanging upside down by their long arms and feeding on vegetation
- reluctance to work or exert oneself
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
sloth /slɔθ or, esp. for 2, sloʊθ/USA pronunciation
n.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- [uncountable] laziness;
unwillingness to work. - Mammals[countable] a slow-moving, tree-dwelling tropical American animal.
sloth
(slôth or, esp. for 2, slōth),USA pronunciation n.
- habitual disinclination to exertion;
indolence;
laziness. - Mammalsany of several slow-moving, arboreal, tropical American edentates of the family Bradypodidae, having a long, coarse, grayish-brown coat often of a greenish cast caused by algae, and long, hooklike claws used in gripping tree branches while hanging or moving along in a habitual upside-down position.
- a pack or group of bears.
- 1125–75; Middle English slowth (see slow, -th1); replacing Old English slǣwth, derivative of slǣw, variant of slāw slow
- 1. shiftlessness, idleness, slackness.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
sloth /sləʊθ/ n
'sloth' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
accidie
- ai
- deadly sins
- sleuth
- slot
- sloth bear
- acedia
- foe
- ground sloth
- haste
- rush
- three-toed sloth
- toed
- toil
- two-toed sloth
- unau
- vegetation
- sleuthhound
- slothful
- slow