sluggish

Habitually idle and lazy; slothful; dull; inactive

a sluggish man

[I]f he leaves the School poſſeſs'd of a ſluggiſh indolent Diſpoſition, and of Learning rather forc'd upon him than choſen, it is probable he will forget what he brought thence; but if he be active, emulous and aſpiring, he will certainly find Time for Reading and Thinking; for tho' it be a homely, it is a true Saying, that where there is a Will, there is a Way.

Slow; having little motion.

Vp thou tame River, vvake; / And from the liquid limbes this ſlumber ſhake: / Thou drovvn'st thy ſelfe in inofficious ſleepe; / And theſe thy ſluggiſh vvaters ſeeme to creepe, / Rather than flovv.

We float upon a sluggish stream, / We ride no rapids mad, / While life is all a tempered dream / And every joy half sad.

Having no power to move oneself or itself; inert.

Matter, being impotent, sluggish, and inactive, hath no power to stir or move itself.

Characteristic of a sluggard; dull; stupid; tame; simple.

Exhibiting economic decline, inactivity, slow, or subnormal growth.

Inflation has been rising despite a sluggish economy.

After an initial bounce back, the post-Covid Chinese economy has turned sluggish. Its property market - once a key driver of growth - is now mired in a credit crisis, exacerbating a domestic "debt bomb" that has ballooned from years of borrowing by local government and state-owned enterprises.