Adjacent Words

Shiftless definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SHIFT'LESS, a. Destitute of expedients, or not resorting to successful expedients; wanting means to act or live; as a shiftless fellow.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: lacking or characterized by lack of ambition or initiative; lazy; "a shiftless student"; "studied in a shiftless way"

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: shift (resourcefulness) Date: 1584 1. lacking in resourcefulness ; inefficient 2. lacking in ambition or incentive ; lazy <shiftless freeloaders> • shiftlessly adverb • shiftlessness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. lacking resourcefulness; lazy; inefficient. Derivatives: shiftlessly adv. shiftlessness n.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Shiftless Shift"less, a. Destitute of expedients, or not using successful expedients; characterized by failure, especially by failure to provide for one's own support, through negligence or incapacity; hence, lazy; improvident; thriftless; as, a shiftless fellow; shiftless management. -- Shift"less*ly, adv. -- Shift"less*ness, n.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If you describe someone as shiftless, you mean that they are lazy and have no desire to achieve anything. ...a shiftless husband. ADJ [disapproval]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. Improvident, imprudent, inefficient, prodigal, wasteful.

Moby Thesaurus

aimless, bone-lazy, cadging, dilatory, do-nothing, doless, dronish, drony, easy, ergophobic, faineant, feckless, good-for-nothing, grasshopper, happy-go-lucky, heedless, idle, improvident, indolent, ineffective, irresponsible, lackadaisical, laggard, lax, lazy, negligent, nonaggressive, otiose, parasitic, pococurante, procrastinative, remiss, scrounging, slack, slothful, slow, sponging, thoughtless, thriftless, unambitious, uncaring, uneconomical, unenterprising, uninspired, unmotivated, unproviding, unthrifty, work-shy