English Vocabulary about Laziness
English Vocabulary about Laziness
Drag one’s feet (idiom)
to do something slowly because you do not want to do it
The advertiser was dragging his feet owing to non-payment for his previous work.
The painter dragged his feet until he got ensured about receiving a good remuneration.
I recommend you delegate some parts of your tasks to your assistants rather than drag your feet and handle the project at a snail’s pace.
Idle (adj)
lazy, indolent, (antonym: diligent)
Children become too idle to go out for playing due to computer and mobile games.
The propagation of idleness in every society is a serious malady which should be overcome by spreading public activities.
Frankly speaking, I envy the idle rich who earn easy money and have an easy-peasy lifestyle.
Indolent (adj):
lazy, not making any effort to do something, (antonym: energetic)
He felt too indolent to get out of bed last Friday.
Don’t surrender to any sense of indolence. Otherwise, you’ll turn into quite an indolent person.
Do you think that indolent people are smarter than ordinary ones?
Inert (adj)
lifeless, static, sluggish or unmotivated
She was so inert after her work that she does every day as a matter of routine.
Inertia and inertness prevent me from reading the book. How inert I am!
Although I am so inert, I will have finished my task in 5 days.
Languid (adj)
John responded to our call languidly after he had received some anesthetic drug.
My father frowns upon languid people, and so do I.
Lethargic (adj)
tired, having no energy to do anything
The obese teenager seems lethargic after eating so much food due to his voracious appetite.
Afternoon is the time when everybody tends to be lethargic.
Being old doesn’t necessarily mean to be lethargic.
You should have stopped being lethargic because being lethargic is a harbinger of failure.
Phlegmatic (adj)
My boss is such a phlegmatic person that any attempt to impress him seems trivial in his eyes.
Slothful (adj)
disliking any form of physical exertion
She wakes up her slothful son to walk.
Slothful people usually tend to pick sedentary jobs.
A well-earned rest is a sheer pleasure that cannot be witnessed by slothful people.
Sluggish (adj)
lethargic, inactive, slow
The company performance is sluggish and inefficient this year because of bad financial conditions.
The football player seems sluggish after being rehabilitated from his injured leg.
Needless to say, sluggish people have a marked tendency for procrastination.
Torpid (adj)
sluggish, lazy, sleepy, dreamy
Everyone has a torpid mind when they stay within their comfort zone.
The moribund organization is recognizable by its torpid employees.
Torpid people who act as a brake on any collaborative effort make me a nervous wreck.
I can not deny that it is not my most favourite style of work where my success depends on dragging my collagues feet
* can not :arrow: cannot
* colleague
* You have not seemed to understand the exact meaning of this idiom.
Reply to “torpid”
Torpid (adj): sluggish, lazy, sleepy, dreamy
Everyone have a torpid mind when they stay within their comfort zone.
* Everyone has
The moribund organization is recognizable by its torpid employees.
Great example!
Torpid people who act as a brake on any collaborative effort make me a nervous wreck.
Reply to “idle”
Idle (adj): lazy, indolent, (antonym: diligent)
Children become too idle to go out for playing due to computer and mobile games.
The propagation of idleness in every society is a serious malady which should be overcome by spreading public activity.
* … public activities.
Frankly speaking, I envy the idle rich who earn easy money and have a easy-peasy lifestyle.
* have an easy …
Reply to “sluggish”
Sluggish (adj): lethargic, inactive, slow
The company performance is sluggish and inefficient this year because of bad financial condition.
* … conditions
The football player seems sluggish after being rehabilitated from his injured leg.
Needless to say, sluggish people have a marked tendency for procrastination.
Reply to “slothful”
Slothful (adj): disliking any form of physical exertion
She wakes up her slothful son to walk.
Slothful people usually tend to work in sedentary jobs.
* … tend to pick sedentary jobs
A well-earned rest is a sheer pleasure that cannot be witnessed by slothful people.
I surmise that there is a mistake in this sentence. When it comes to relative pronouns, there exists a subtle difference between “which” and “that”. I have been caught by the assessors of “IELTS-Blog” website many times for making this mistake. In fact, when we are NOT defining an object (Not a Person) and some information is being added to the object, it is a mistake to use “That”.
Examples:
1) He opened a company in England, which employed around 20 workers. [Correct]
2) He opened a company in England, that employed around 20 workers.[Grammatically Incorrect]
P.S. This point in mentioned in Cambridge Grammar book as well.
Also I can add that when the relative pronoun is to provide information about something or somebody that is completely indefinite to us, it’s better to use “that” and you shall not put a comma before “that”. However, when the entity is relatively definite or we already have some information about it, it’s better to use “which” and put a comma before it.
Thank you for making the good point!
You’re so welcome.
Reply to “languid”
John responded to our call languidly after he had received anesthetic drug.
* an anesthetic drug / anesthetic drugs – “Drug” with this meaning is countable.
My father frowns upon languid people and so do I.
Reply to “drag one’s feet”
Drag one`s feet: doing slowly because you do not want to do it.
Advertiser drags his feet owing to non-payment for previous work.
* The advertiser is / was dragging
* for his/her previous work
The painter dragged his feet until got ensured of receiving a good remuneration.
* … until he was / got ensured about …
I recommend you delegate some parts of your tasks to your assistants rather than dragging your feet and handling the project at a snail’s pace.
After “rather than”, use an infinite.
Reply to “phlegmatic”
My boss is such a phlegmatic person whom any attempt to impress, seems triviality to his eyes.
* My boss is such a phlegmatic person that any attempt to impress him seems trivial in his eyes.
He was so phlegmatic as to not be worth reprimanding.
Reply to “lethargic”
Lethargic (adj): tired, have no energy to do anything
The obese teenager seems lethargic after his voracious appetite to eat food.
* … after eating so much food due to his voracious appetite
Afternoon is the time when everybody tends to be lethargic.
Being old doesn’t mean being lethargic.
Being old doesn’t necessarily mean to be lethargic.
You should have stopped being lethargic.
Being Lethargic is a sine qua non for failure.
Your second sentence is semantically weird. “Sine quo non” is generally used to emphasize the building blocks of something significant and influential, e.g. happiness, gratification, etc., and not for laziness.
Reply to “inert”
Inert (adj): lifeless, static, sluggish or unmotivated
She was inert after her work that she do every day as a matter of routine.
* … that she does …
Inertia and inertness prevent me from reading the book. How inert I am.
Your second sentence is an exclamation. So, it’s better to put an exclamation mark at the end “!”.
Although I am so inert, I will have finished my task, in 5 days. [Future Perfect]
Reply to “indolent”
Indolent (adj): lazy, not making any effort to do something, (antonym: energetic)
He felt too indolent to get out of bed last Friday.
Don’t surrender to sense of indolence. Otherwise you turn into quite a indolent person.
Don’t surrender to any sense of indolence. Otherwise, you will turn into a quite indolent person.
There is a grammatical point in Longman dictionary indicating:
Put quite before ‘a’ and an adjective and noun, not after ‘a’:
It look quite a long time (not a quite long time).
Although I made a mistake of “an indolent” instead of “a indolent”
It’s not a grammar mistake but just a fairly different usage. In fact, “quite a something” is generally used to show an exclamation and excitement. However, quite, independently, is an adverb that should be placed right before the following adjective. Therefore, if you meant to show an exclamation or simply wanted to put emphasis on that, your original sentence could also be correct.
Do you think that indolent people are smarter than ordinary ones?
We will surely discuss it in the class.