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Glite Dictionary
🐢 A slow person 🐢 Slow or delayed
laggard

laggard

4 8.1
A person or thing that is slower than others and falls behind
  • noun
  • /ˈlæɡərd/
translation icon : rezagado
  • Despite being a laggard in the project, she finally caught up by working extra hours.
  • leaders or laggards

Every other space now the latest ones, the ones that were the the laggards have been education, health and finance.

Examples

  • The United States must also be the leader, not the laggard, in global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

    Academic text (2008)

  • There are always laggards with any new technology, particularly one as disruptive as cloud computing.

    Blog text (20)

  • Since 1982, among developed nations, France has been a clear laggard in GDP growth.

    Blog text (25)

  • Left or right, it matters not... so long as the leader and the laggard remain equidistant.

    Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)

  • The engine noise from the two laggards grew louder.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Perhaps even more troublingly, Canada is increasingly perceived as an innovation laggard in an age when disruptive technologies drive the global economy.

    Academic text (2017)

  • Over the course of the five-year period, the customer experience leaders spanked the laggards in stock performance.

    Blog text (23)

  • That's a really big deal since AMD is one of the biggest laggards in the AI race.

  • A potential complication is that a winery may have been a laggard and had a unique business model due to not keeping pace with changes in the industry.

    Academic text (2016)

  • Greeks are as angry about the EU-enforced belt-tightening as Germans are about having to bail out Europe's economic laggards.

    Academic text (2012)

Synonyms

drone
vslaggard
  • Offensive
43 7.6

A person who works slowly and avoids effort

describes slower progress without implying laziness
slowpoke
vslaggard
  • Offensive
5 6.8

A person who does things more slowly than other people

focuses on making slower progress and ending up behind others
lagger
vslaggard
1 8.1

A person who falls behind others because they are slower

applies to both people and things that make slower progress and fall behind
underperformer
vslaggard
1 5.2

A person or company that does not do as well as others expect

refers specifically to slower progress and falling behind, not overall weak performance
poke
vslaggard
  • Informal
1 8.6

A person who moves slowly and falls behind others

emphasizes slower overall progress that causes one to fall behind
slowcoach
vslaggard
  • Offensive
1 8.4

A person who takes a long time to do things and makes others wait

refers to making slower progress and falling behind rather than delaying others
dawdler
vslaggard
1 7.1

A person who moves slowly and wastes time

means slower progress that leads to falling behind rather than mere lingering
incher
vslaggard
  • Informal
9.9

A person who moves forward very slowly, one small step at a time

covers slower progress in general rather than tiny incremental movement
dillydallier
vslaggard
  • Informal
8.6

A person who wastes time by being slow to act or decide

is about making slower progress and falling behind rather than indecision

Antonyms

leader
∞ 1.0

A person who guides and directs a group, organization, or country

How Fast

pacesetter
1 6.7
laggard
4 8.1
straggler
22 4.3
slowcoach
  • Offensive
1 8.4

Surface Forms

laggard singular
laggards plural

Morphology

laggard = lag (semi-transparent) = lag + ard

The suffix '-ard' is often used to form nouns indicating a person characterized by a certain quality, but the specific meaning of 'laggard' as a person who falls behind is not entirely transparent.

Etymology

Laggard comes from the simple verb lag ('to fall behind') plus the ending -ard that makes it a word for a person, so a laggard is a person or thing that falls behind others.