Synonyms of shiftless

shiftless

adjective

ˈshif(t)-ləs 

as in lazy

not easily aroused to action or work

shiftless spongers who never thought to do anything for themselves

Synonyms & Similar Words

• lazy
• idle
• indolent
• slothful
• sleepy
• dull
• apathetic
• listless
• lethargic
• sluggish
• inert
• quiescent
• torpid
• drowsy
• languorous
• supine
• lazyish

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• industrious
• ambitious
• enterprising
• zealous
• diligent
• active
• dynamic
• energetic
• spirited
• vigorous
• exuberant
• lively
• vivacious
• animated
• perky
• frisky
• sprightly
• bouncing
• brisk
• jaunty
• pert
• snappy
• springy
• jazzy
• peppy
• zippy

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of shiftless

Expectations of real gains in livelihoods among China’s large, increasingly shiftless rural population will be much harder to fulfill in an era of slower growth. —Scott Rozelle and Matthew Boswell, Foreign Affairs, 5 Oct. 2022

After the volunteers slink back to Paddy’s, the most shiftless person on campus will once again be Principal Coleman (Janelle James), whose ineptitude and vanity don’t prevent her from advocating for the students from time to time. —Hannah Giorgis, The Atlantic, 9 Jan. 2025

Just as Let’s Start Here tapped the Yves Tumor and Caroline Polachek regulars Justin Raisen and Patrick Wimberly to steer its lysergic pop, Bad Cameo solicits heady, shiftless synthesizer compositions to showcase different dimensions in Lil Yachty’s voice. —Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 3 July 2024

Gill’s benevolent steadfastness is supported by his loving, tolerant wife (Shailene Woodley) but mocked by his shiftless brother (a very funny Pete Davidson), who urges him to cash in. —Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 15 Sep. 2023

The filmmaker wrote, directed, shot, edited, and starred in this essentially plotless Super 16 slice-of-life about a shiftless Austin dude who couch surfs across the state. —A.a. Dowd, Chron, 4 Apr. 2023

But eventually the smart lower class people will have descendants who are in the upper class, while the shiftless upper class individuals of earlier generations will have descendants who move down the class hierarchy after exhausting their inheritances. —Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 24 June 2012

Their anger focused on a faceless government that neglected people like them and on supposedly shiftless immigrants and minorities who feasted at the public trough. —Helen Epstein, The New York Review of Books, 10 Mar. 2020

Stereotypes of unemployed, shiftless man-children playing X-Box in their parents’ basement aren’t really borne out by the data. —Matt Levin, The Mercury News, 27 Aug. 2019