- slow
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2 Slow, dilatory, laggard, deliberate, leisurely can apply to persons, their movements, or their actions, and mean taking a longer time than is necessary, usual, or sometimes, desirable.Slow (see also STUPID), the term that is the widest in its range of application, may also be used in reference to a thing (as a mechanism, a process, or a drug) that is the opposite of quick or fast in its motion, its performance, or its operation. In its varying applications slow often suggests a reprehensible or discreditable cause (as stupidity, lethargy, indolence, or inaction){
a slow student
}{slow wits
}{slow movements
}{he is as slow as a snail
}{slow in getting results
}{an unimaginative man, slow of comprehension— Times Lit. Sup.
}but it may suggest either extreme care or caution{a slow but capable worker
}{slow to take offense
}{he is slow in making changes
}{he spoke with a slow, slightly thick precision, making elegant gestures— Wouk
}or a tempo that is required by nature, art, or a plan or schedule{a slow convalescence
}{a slow stream
}{a slow movement in music
}{a slow train
}or a falling behind because of structural or mechanical defects or untoward difficulties{a slow watch
}{the train is slow tonight because of the snow-storm
}Dilatory is relatively a term of restricted application referable to persons or to things for which persons are responsible as their actors, performers, or creators and implying slowness that is the result of inertness, procrastination, or indifference{a dilatory correspondent
}{though dilatory in undertaking business, he was quick in its execution— Austen
}{he was temporizing, making, with unconscious prudence, a dilatory opposition to an impending catastrophe— Bierce
}Laggard is even more censorious a term than dilatory, for it implies a failure to observe a schedule (as for arriving or performing) or to obey a call or demand promptly; it frequently suggests loitering or waste of time{laggard pupils keep a whole class back
}{for Love was laggard, O, Love was slow to come— Millay
}{in its coverage of spot news events, radio has been especially laggard— Rovere
}{directed him and another general to ... prod laggard manufacturers into speeding up production— Kahn
}Deliberate (see also DELIBERATE 2) applies to persons, usually directly but sometimes indirectly, and then is applied to things for which a person is responsible; the term suggests absence of hurry or agitation and a slowness that is the result of care, forethought, calculation, or self-restraint{deliberate enunciation
}{deliberate movements
}{he returned with the same easy, deliberate tread— Cather
}{she ate her food in the deliberate, constrained way, almost as if she recoiled a little from doing anything so publicly— D. H. Lawrence
}Leisurely also implies a lack of hurry or a slowness that suggests that there is no pressure for time; the term applies not only to persons and their acts but to things that have no relation to persons{breakfast was a leisurely meal—Archibald Marshall
}{his departure, like all his movements, was leisurely. He did not take the first available boat or the second— Waugh
}{took leisurely leave, with kisses all around, of a half dozen young men— K. A. Porter
}Antonyms: fastslow vb slacken, *delay, retard, detainAnalogous words: *moderate, temper, qualify: reduce, abate, *decrease, lessenAntonyms: speedContrasted words: accelerate, quicken, hasten, hurry (see SPEED vb)
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
