150+ Ways to Say Slow: A Word List for Writers

Are Repetitions of Slow Bogging Down Your WIP?

Wait a sec. Bog down. This phrase can replace the verb slow.

And the creature in the above graphic has represented the epitome of slowness since ancient times. Today, snail mail is a term that symbolizes the slowness of postal service.

Let’s dig further.

Show the Slowness

Study the following examples. All demonstrate slowness without including slow.

He drawled on, hour after hour.
Most people took five minutes to do the job. She needed five hours.
His eyes took so long to focus that I thought he was dead.
Her movements and speech reminded me of a video played at half-speed.
To call him a snail would be an insult to every snail in the world.

Tip: Many processes that take a long time are slow.

Have You Chosen the Appropriate Connotation?

A slow lecture might be better described as a lengthy
Is traffic slow, or is it heavy?
Is a leader’s approach slow, or is it nitpicky?
Are nations slow to respond to the climate crisis, or are they indifferent?
A slow response to a reporter’s question might be better described as evasive or full of prevarications.

Animals that Are Slow

Capitalize on metaphors and similes that include slow animals:

earthworms
sloths
slugs
snails
tortoises
turtles

Things and Processes that Are Slow

Consider comparing something or someone in your WIP to one of the following.

an antique computer
a child who doesn’t want to go to school
a clogged drain or toilet
a glacier
a leaking pipe
molasses
an old person
red tape
a software update
tectonic plates

See also the Similes and Metaphors section near the end of this post.

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Adjectives

An adjective is a quick way to introduce slowness to writing or poetry.

Slightly Slow
andante, bit-by-bit, dreamy, gradual, lackadaisical, laggard, laggardly, laid-back, leisurely, lethargic, moderate, relaxed, sluggardly, sluggish, unhurried

Slow
behind schedule, behindhand, heavy-footed, languid, largamente, lazy, listless, poky, slack, sleepy, slumberous, tardy, time-consuming, torpid

Extremely Slow
bumper-to-bumper, dormant, immobile, inactive, interminable, long-overdue, long-drawn-out, on hold, on ice, on the back burner, stuck,
unprogressive

Invent New Adjectives

Add -able, -al, -est, -free, -ful, -ible, -ic, -ing, -ish, -ive, -less, -like, -oid, -ous, and other suffixes to nouns and verbs to create new adjectives.

Verbs and Phrasal Verbs

Verbs are another quick way to show slowness:

A to I
amble, bog down, crawl, creep, dally, dawdle, delay, dilly-dally, drag, drift, drop back, edge, fade, fall behind, grind to a halt, halt, hobble, hold up, idle, inch, inhibit

L to W
lag, linger, loaf, loiter, lollygag, lumber, mire, plod, postpone, prolong, protract, put on hold, shamble, shuffle, slog, smolder, stagnate, stall, straggle, suspend, trail, trudge, wait, worm

Similes, Metaphors, and Idioms

Demonstrate slowness with phrasing like the following.

more sluggish than [bureaucracy, dirt, George R. R. Martin’s last book in the Game of Thrones series, a kid on the way to the principal’s office, mail service, a professor’s lecture, red tape, the service in (name a bank, restaurant, or store)]
to hold one’s horses
to put on the brakes
like being stuck in [a crowd, glue, a lineup at an amusement park, mud, quicksand]
like carrying [a bag of rocks, a briefcase full of gold bricks, a sack full of potatoes]
like a lumbering [grizzly, hippo, polar bear]
like turning around [a loaded semi, an ocean liner]
like running [in muck, through three feet of snow, underwater]
like waiting for [lab test results, a spouse to dress, an elevator to arrive]
like walking [through an overflowing auditorium, up 50 flights of stairs, up a cliff]
like watching [a corpse decompose, bread rise, grass grow, hair grow, paint dry, water evaporate]
like rush-hour traffic