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Slow vs Still - What's the difference?

slow | still |

As nouns the difference between slow and still

is that slow is someone who is slow; a sluggard while still is .

As an adjective slow

is taking a long time to move or go a short distance, or to perform an action; not quick in motion; proceeding at a low speed.

As a verb slow

is to make (something) run, move, etc less quickly; to reduce the speed of.

As an adverb slow

is slowly.

slow

English

Adjective

(er)
  • Taking a long time to move or go a short distance, or to perform an action; not quick in motion; proceeding at a low speed.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= The attack of the MOOCs , passage=Dotcom mania was slow in coming to higher education, but now it has the venerable industry firmly in its grip. Since the launch early last year of Udacity and Coursera, two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations.}}
  • Not happening in a short time; spread over a comparatively long time.
  • * (John Milton)
  • These changes in the heavens, though slow , produced / Like change on sea and land, sidereal blast.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Charles T. Ambrose
  • , title= Alzheimer’s Disease , volume=101, issue=3, page=200, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads.}}
  • Of reduced intellectual capacity; not quick to comprehend.
  • Not hasty; not precipitate; lacking in promptness; acting with deliberation.
  • * The Bible, Prov. xiv. 29
  • He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding.
  • (of a clock or the like) Behind]] in time; indicating a time [[early, earlier than the true time.
  • Lacking spirit; deficient in liveliness or briskness.
  • (of a period of time) Not busy; lacking activity.
  • Synonyms

    * See also * (taking a long time to move a short distance) deliberate; moderate * (not happening in a short time) gradual * (of reduced intellectual capacity) dull-witted * (acting with deliberation) dilatory, inactive, tardy, slothful, sluggish * (lacking spirit) boring, dull

    Antonyms

    * (taking a long time to move a short distance) fast, quick, rapid, swift * (of reduced intellectual capacity) prompt, quick * (acting with deliberation) hasty, precipitate, prompt * (lacking spirit) brisk, lively

    Derived terms

    * slow motion, slo-mo * slow-belly * slow burn * slowish * slowly * slow march * slowness * slowpoke

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make (something) run, move, etc. less quickly; to reduce the speed of.
  • To keep from going quickly; to hinder the progress of.
  • To become slow; to slacken in speed; to decelerate.
  • * '>citation
  • After about a minute, the creek bed vomited the debris into a gently sloped meadow. Saugstad felt the snow slow and tried to keep her hands in front of her.

    Synonyms

    * (keep from going quickly) delay, hinder, retard * (become slow) decelerate, slacken

    Derived terms

    * slower * slow up * slow down

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Someone who is slow; a sluggard.
  • (music) A slow song.
  • Adverb

    (er)
  • Slowly.
  • That clock is running slow .
  • * Shakespeare
  • Let him have time to mark how slow time goes / In time of sorrow.

    still

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) . Related to (l).

    Alternative forms

    * (l) * (l), (l), (l) (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • Not moving; calm.
  • Still waters run deep.
  • Not effervescing; not sparkling.
  • still''' water; '''still wines
  • Uttering no sound; silent.
  • * Addison
  • The sea that roared at thy command, / At thy command was still .
  • (not comparable) Having the same stated quality continuously from a past time
  • * {{quote-news, 2007, January 3, Gerry Geronimo, Unwanted weed starts to sprout from a wayward ponencia, Manila Standard citation
  • , passage=To follow the still President’s marching orders, all that Secretary Ronnie Puno has to do is to follow the road map laid out by Justice Azcuna in his “separate” opinion. }}
  • Comparatively quiet or silent; soft; gentle; low.
  • * Bible, 1 Kings xix. 12
  • a still small voice
  • (obsolete) Constant; continual.
  • * Shakespeare
  • By still practice learn to know thy meaning.
    Synonyms
    * (not moving) fixed, stationary, unmoving * See also
    Derived terms
    * stillness

    Adverb

    (-)
  • (aspect) Up to a time, as in the preceding time.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • It hath been anciently reported, and is still received.
  • * , chapter=15
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Edward Churchill still attended to his work in a hopeless mechanical manner like a sleep-walker who walks safely on a well-known round. But his Roman collar galled him, his cossack stifled him, his biretta was as uncomfortable as a merry-andrew's cap and bells.}}
  • *
  • Hepaticology, outside the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, still lies deep in the shadow cast by that ultimate "closet taxonomist," Franz Stephani—a ghost whose shadow falls over us all.
  • * {{quote-magazine, title=A better waterworks, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
  • , page=5 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.}}
  • (degree) To an even greater degree.
  • ("still" and "taller" can easily swap places here)
  • * Shakespeare
  • The guilt being great, the fear doth still exceed.
  • (conjunctive) Nevertheless.
  • * Moore
  • As sunshine, broken in the rill, / Though turned astray, is sunshine still .
  • (archaic, poetic) Always; invariably; constantly; continuously.
  • * 1609 (William Shakespeare), Troilus and Cressida 5.2.201-202:
  • Lechery, lechery, still wars and lechery; nothing else holds fashion.
  • * Addison
  • The desire of fame betrays an ambitious man into indecencies that lessen his reputation; he is still afraid lest any of his actions should be thrown away in private.
  • * Boyle
  • Chemists would be rich if they could still do in great quantities what they have sometimes done in little.
  • (extensive) .
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Sarah Glaz
  • , title= Ode to Prime Numbers , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Some poems, echoing the purpose of early poetic treatises on scientific principles, attempt to elucidate the mathematical concepts that underlie prime numbers. Others play with primes’ cultural associations. Still others derive their structure from mathematical patterns involving primes.}}
    Synonyms
    * (up to a time) yet * (to an even greater degree) yet, even * (nevertheless) nonetheless, though, yet

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A period of calm or silence.
  • the still of the night
  • (photography) A non-moving photograph. (The term is generally used only when it is necessary to distinguish from movies.)
  • (slang) A resident of the Falkland Islands.
  • A steep hill or ascent.
  • Etymology 2

    Via (etyl), ultimately from (etyl) stilla

    Noun

    (en noun) (wikipedia still)
  • a device for distilling liquids.
  • (catering) a large water boiler used to make tea and coffee.
  • (catering) the area in a restaurant used to make tea and coffee, separate from the main kitchen.
  • A building where liquors are distilled; a distillery.
  • See also
    * pot still

    Etymology 3

    (etyl) stillan

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to calm down, to quiet
  • to still the raging sea
  • * Woodward
  • He having a full sway over the water, had power to still and compose it, as well as to move and disturb it.
  • * Shakespeare
  • With his name the mothers still their babies.
  • * Hawthorne
  • toil that would, at least, have stilled an unquiet impulse in me

    Etymology 4

    Aphetic form of distil, or from (etyl) (lena) stillare.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To trickle, drip.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , III.ii:
  • any drop of slombring rest / Did chaunce to still into her wearie spright [...].
  • To cause to fall by drops.
  • To expel spirit from by heat, or to evaporate and condense in a refrigeratory; to distill.
  • (Tusser)

    Statistics

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