sluggish

Etymology

slug + -ish

adj

1. 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. 1724, Pharmacopolæ Justificati: Or, Apothecaries Vindicated from the Imputation of Ignorance.[…], London: […] J. Roberts,[…], →OCLC, page 6
   And the sluggish land slumbers in utter neglect. c. 1874, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ovid in Exile
2. Slow; having little motion.
   We float upon a sluggish stream, We ride no rapids mad, While life is all a tempered dream And every joy half sad. 1913, Paul Laurence Dunbar, At Sunset Time
   [T]he stock of capital is necessarily a sluggish time series, while output is capable of making wide swings in short intervals[.] 1970, Robert M. Solow, Growth Theory: An Exposition, Oxford University Press, page 3
3. Having no power to move oneself or itself; inert.
   Matter, being impotent, sluggish, and inactive, hath no power to stir or move itself. 1695, John Woodward, An Essay toward a Natural History of the Earth and Terrestrial Bodies
4. Characteristic of a sluggard; dull; stupid; tame; simple.
5. Exhibiting economic decline, inactivity, slow, or subnormal growth.
   Inflation has been rising despite sluggish economy.