slowpoke

noun

slow·​poke ˈslō-ˌpōk 

: a very slow person

Synonyms

• crawler
• dallier
• dawdler
• dragger
• laggard
• lagger
• lingerer
• loiterer
• plodder
• snail
• straggler

Examples of slowpoke in a Sentence

We're going to be late if that slowpoke doesn't hurry up.

quit being such a slowpoke this morning, or you'll be late

Recent Examples on the Web

Retired or not, the world’s greatest quarterback does not have the luxury to indulge in sequential action—one thing at a time is for slowpokes and losers. —Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, 25 Jan. 2025

One group of 15 female rats, brighter in color than the rest, kept zooming past the others to make it into the houses first, making the rest of their furry colleagues look like slowpokes. —Laura Bradley, Vulture, 17 Jan. 2025

Don’t wait for slowpokes to join in; follow your heart and make your dreams come true. —Eugenia Last, The Mercury News, 1 Sep. 2024

That said, not everyone agrees that letting the slowpokes who fumble with their bags in the overhead bins off first is more polite. —Nerdwallet, The Mercury News, 28 June 2024

From the close of 2020 to the price peak around May of 2022, our dozen locales typically gained 40% or so, an extraordinary advance in just 17 months for such traditional slowpokes. —Shawn Tully, Fortune, 19 Oct. 2023

One possible explanation for the Milky Way’s stellar slowpokes is that our galaxy is extraordinarily deficient in dark matter, the invisible substance thought to serve as gravitational scaffolding for cosmic structures. —Adam Mann, Scientific American, 11 Oct. 2023

This bashful slowpoke has been a favorite of consumers for years, though, because looks and power, apparently, aren’t everything. —Josh Max, Forbes, 10 Feb. 2023

Part of adjusting to the chaotic aquatic environment is learning the code of how to swim around the slowpoke in front of you. —Laine Higgins, WSJ, 18 June 2021

Word History

Etymology

slow entry 1 + poke annoyingly stupid person

First Known Use

1847, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for slowpoke

• awoke
• baroque
• bespoke
• colloque
• convoke
• evoke
• invoke
• keystroke
• kinfolk
• kinsfolk
• menfolk
• provoke

Kids Definition

slowpoke

noun

slow·​poke ˈslō-ˌpōk 

: a very slow person