Sloth

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Sloth
/sləʊθ/ (n.)

1. Laziness. A restive compulsion to find an easier way of doing anything, with an ultimate goal of doing nothing at all. 2. A mammal that, by achieving 1., seems to have done perfectly well for itself.

In the Bible, sloth is one of the deadly sins — it may also have been one of the seven dwarves, come to think of it — but in the Jolly Contrarian’s estimations — I dare say because he’s so badly afflicted by it — one of the great paragonic virtues.

See also

• Special pleading