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# sloth

«sloth» in Mova's school dictionary: **a slow-moving animal from Central and South America that…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a sloth, sloths; uncountable sloth)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A sloth is a slow-moving animal from Central and South America that hangs upside down in trees. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sloth/#m1)

2) Sloth is laziness (formal or old word). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sloth/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In science lessons: sloths are mammals; they move very slowly and sleep many hours a day; algae can grow in their fur. In stories, «sloth» means laziness. Phrases: «as slow as a sloth», «three-toed sloth».

### examples

- The sloth hung upside down from the branch. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sloth/#x1)
- Sloths move very slowly to save energy. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sloth/#x2)
- A sloth sleeps about 15 hours a day. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sloth/#x3)
- Green algae grow on the sloth's fur. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sloth/#x4)
- «Get up, you sloth!» said my sister. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sloth/#x5)
- In old stories, sloth is a bad habit. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sloth/#x6)

### note

Countable for the animal; uncountable for laziness. Rhymes with «both» in the UK; also said like «cloth».

### In the corpora

- [Green algae grow in a sloth's fur and help to hide it among the leaves.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/2-the-rainforest-from-the-top/9/)
- [A two-toed sloth has two claws on each front foot and three on each back foot.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/108-the-south-american-area-sloths-anteaters-piranhas-giant-otters/6/)
- [Long curved claws hook over branches, so a sloth can hang upside down for hours, even asleep, without tiring.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/142-zootopia-real-sloths-shrews-predators-and-prey/6/)
- [Green algae grow in sloth fur and give camouflage among leaves, and moths live in the fur too.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/142-zootopia-real-sloths-shrews-predators-and-prey/8/)
- [Three-toed sloths come down to the ground about once a week to poo, and algae and moths live in their fur.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/156-the-amazon-canopy/10/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «sloth» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sloth/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.