slowness

slow  (sl)

adj. slow·er, slow·est

1.

a. Not moving or able to move quickly; proceeding at a low speed: a slow train; slow walkers.

b. Marked by a retarded tempo: a slow waltz.

2.

a. Taking or requiring a long time: the slow job of making bread.

b. Taking more time than is usual: a slow worker; slow progress in the peace negotiations.

3. Allowing movement or action only at a low speed: a slow track; a slow infield.

4. Registering a time or rate behind or below the correct one: a slow clock.

5. Lacking in promptness or willingness; not precipitate: They were slow to accept our invitation.

6. Characterized by a low volume of sales or transactions: Business was slow today.

7. Lacking liveliness or interest; boring: a slow party.

8. Not having or exhibiting intellectual or mental quickness: a slow learner.

9. Only moderately warm; low: a slow oven.

adv. slower, slowest

1. So as to fall behind the correct time or rate: The watch runs slow.

2. At a low speed: Go slow!

v. slowed, slow·ing, slows

v.tr.

1. To make slow or slower.

2. To delay; retard.

v.intr.

To become slow or slower.

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[Middle English, from Old English slw.]

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slowly adv.

slowness n.

Synonyms: slow, dilatory, leisurely, laggard, deliberate
These adjectives mean taking more time than is usual or necessary. Slow is the least specific: a slow bus; a slow heartbeat; slow to anger.
Dilatory implies lack of promptness caused by delay, procrastination, or indifference: paid a late fee because I was dilatory in paying the bill.
Leisurely suggests a relaxed lack of haste: went for a leisurely walk by the river.
Laggard implies hanging back or falling behind: "the horses' laggard pace" (Rudyard Kipling).
Deliberate suggests a lack of hurry traceable especially to caution or careful consideration, as of consequences: worked in a systematic and deliberate manner.

Usage Note: Slow may sometimes be used instead of slowly when it comes after the verb: We drove the car slow. In formal writing slowly is generally preferred. Slow is often used in speech and informal writing, especially when brevity and forcefulness are sought: Drive slow! Slow is also the established idiomatic form with certain senses of common verbs: The watch runs slow. Take it slow.

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Slowness 

See Also: MOVEMENT

1. Agonizingly slow like the gradual ripening of a peach on a limb —Sue Grafton
2. By degrees, as lawyers go to heaven —Anon
3. [A locomotive] came slowly, like a bison —Saul Bellow
4. (An hour) crawled by like a sick cockroach —Raymond Chandler
5. Creeping like a snail —William Shakespeare
6. Dragged around … like a dog with three legs —Shelby Hearon
7. [An endless journey] like crossing the Sahara by pogo stick —Robert Silverberg
8. Gather slowly, like a storm that swirls at sea —Anon
9. Gradually, like a man entering a swimming pool slowly —Michael Korda

   The gradual process being compared to entering a pool is a return to work.

10. Grew with such infinite slowness, like a stalactite —Lawrence Durrell
11. Happening in slow motion like a baseball replay —Maxine Kumin
12. Have all the speed and liquidity of a slug skating across salt —Erik Sandberg-Diment, New York Times, January 18, 1987

    Diment’s comparison refers to a word processing program.

13. It [the movie Kangaroo] moves like a slug climbing a cornstalk —Rex Reed, 1987
14. It takes time … like getting your hair curled —Carlos Baker
15. Leisurely as the drift of continents —T. Coraghessan Boyle
16. Life passed him as slowly as traffic on a main artery during the evening rush hour —Anon
17. Moved as slow as paste —Paul Theroux
18. (My feet seemed deep in sand. I) moved like some heat-weary animal —Theodore Roethke
19. Moved slowly, like a diver with heavy boots —Graham Swift
20. Moved slowly through her days, like a mermaid floating in a translucent sea where all was calm, shadowy, and ambiguous —Peter Meinke
21. (Here and there a herd of stray cows) moves as slowly as old men on their way to the graveyard —A. D. Winans
22. (The government) moves like a huge blob of molasses on a two-degree slope —John D. MacDonald

    An extension of the cliche, “Slow as molasses.”

23. Moving about, slow as earthquake survivors —Brian Moore
24. A process about as slow and arduous as the building of the pyramids —Edith Wharton

    The process Wharton is describing is character building.

25. Pushes ahead; slow as a weight —Delmore Schwartz
26. Slow and silent, like old movies —Sharon Sheehe Stark

    See Also: SILENCE

27. Slow as a dream —Robert Penn Warren
28. Slow as a hog on ice with his tail frozen —American colloquialism, attributed to Vermont

    The way Vermonters say it: “With his tail froze.”

29. Slow as a tortoise —American colloquialism

    To add emphasis there’s, “As old as an old tortoise.”

30. Slow as dough —Sharon Sheehe Stark

    In a story entitled The Horsehair, the simile is used to draw a portrait of a dull, unambitious man.

31. Slow as molasses going uphill —Jamaican expression

    A variant of, “Slow as molasses.”

32. Slow as the hands of a schoolroom clock —W. D. Snodgrass
33. Slow as the oak’s growth —John Greenleaf Whittier
34. Slow-blooded, like a lizard in winter —Mary Hood
35. Slowly, like bodies being dragged —Ross Macdonald
36. Slowly, like turtles cooking in the sun, we rotated our heads —T. Coraghessan Boyle

    See Also: HEAD MOVEMENTS

37. Slow-moving like an old woman with a walker —Anon
38. Slow reluctant process [a city’s morning stirrings], like the waking of a heavy sleeper —Edith Wharton
39. (Opened the case) with deliberate ceremonial slowness, as if breaking bread at a wedding banquet —Richard Lourie

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	slowness - unskillfulness resulting from a lack of training awkwardness, clumsiness, ineptitude, ineptness, maladroitness unskillfulness - a lack of cognitive skill rustiness - ineptitude or awkwardness as a consequence of age or lack of practice; "his rustiness showed when he was asked to speed up"
	2.	slowness - a rate demonstrating an absence of haste or hurry deliberateness, unhurriedness, deliberation pace, rate - the relative speed of progress or change; "he lived at a fast pace"; "he works at a great rate"; "the pace of events accelerated" leisureliness - slowness by virtue of being leisurely dilatoriness, procrastination - slowness as a consequence of not getting around to it
	3.	slowness - lack of normal development of intellectual capacities backwardness, mental retardation, subnormality, retardation stupidity - a poor ability to understand or to profit from experience mental defectiveness, abnormality - retardation sufficient to fall outside the normal range of intelligence mental deficiency, moronity - mild mental retardation amentia, idiocy - extreme mental retardation imbecility - retardation more severe than a moron but not as severe as an idiot

Translations

slowness [ˈsləʊnɪs] N

1. (= lack of speed) → lentitud f
he was criticized for his slowness to act or in acting → le criticaron por la lentitud con la que actuó

2. (= mental sluggishness) → torpeza f

3. (= dullness) [of plot, film, book, match] → lentitud f, pesadez f

slowness [ˈsləʊnɪs] n → lenteur f

slowness

n

→ Langsamkeit f; their slowness to act → ihr Zaudern

(= stupidity: of person) → Begriffsstutzigkeit f; slowness of mind → Begriffsstutzigkeit f

(= inactivity: of party, film, plot) → Lahmheit f, → Langweiligkeit f

(Comm: = slackness) → Flaute f

(slowing down movement) (of surface, track, pitch) → Langsamkeit f; (because of rain etc) → Schwere f

slowness [ˈsləʊnɪs] n → lentezza