slow

Meaning

Adj

1. 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.
2. Not happening in a short time; spread over a comparatively long time.
3. Of reduced intellectual capacity; not quick to comprehend.
4. Not hasty; not tending to hurry; acting with deliberation or caution.
5. Behind in time; indicating a time earlier than the true time.
6. Lacking spirit; deficient in liveliness or briskness.
7. Not busy; lacking activity.

Verb

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

Noun

1. Someone who is slow; a sluggard.
2. A slow song.

Adv

Slowly.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/sləʊ/

Etymology

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”), 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”).