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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

slog en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • /slɑɡ/ (General-American)
  • /slɒɡ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
  • (Australia) audio

Etymology

Probably a variation of slug (“to hit very hard”) or slough. Possibly related to slag, seen in the North Germanic languages, in association with the third verb and second noun definition.

Meanings

  1. (Australia, Canada, UK, countable, uncountable) A long, tedious walk or march.
  2. (Australia, Canada, UK, broadly, countable, uncountable) A hard, persistent effort, session of work, or period.
    • It is as if Mr. Faulks had bled his own prose white, draining it of emotion in order to capture the endless enervating slog of war. 1996 February 11, Michael Gorra, “Tunnel Vision”, in The New York Times:
    • England's experimental line-up will have realised early on that this would be a long, hard slog against the multi-talented Brazilians with great strength in their starting line-up and on the bench. 2017 November 14, Phil McNulty, “England 0 – 0 Brazil”, in BBC Sport:
    • There, despite the long slog of the pandemic and all the distracting dramas at headquarters, the schools themselves have mostly kept it together. 2022 February 12, Danny Westneat, “The reason voters see past the terrible headlines with Seattle schools”, in The Seattle Times:
    • Alsup wrote that Anthropic preferred to “steal” books to “avoid ‘legal/practice/business slog,’ as cofounder and CEO Dario Amodei put it.” 2025 June 25, Lee Chong Ming, quoting William Alsup and Dario Amodei, “Anthropic cut up millions of used books to train Claude — and downloaded over 7 million pirated ones too, a judge said”, in Business Insider:
  3. (countable) A book or other media that is difficult to get through due to dullness, density, or lack of narrative momentum.
  4. (countable) An aggressive shot played with little skill.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
slogs Number=Plur lexicographic

Translations (6)

es tráfago (Translations) · cs lopota (hard persistent effort, session of work) · cs dřina (hard persistent effort, session of work) · cs makačka (hard persistent effort, session of work) · de Schufterei (hard persistent effort, session of work) · fi urakka (hard persistent effort, session of work)

slog en · VERB

Pronunciation

  • /slɑɡ/ (General-American)
  • /slɒɡ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
  • (Australia) audio

Etymology

Probably a variation of slug (“to hit very hard”) or slough. Possibly related to slag, seen in the North Germanic languages, in association with the third verb and second noun definition.

Meanings

  1. (intransitive) To walk slowly or doggedly, encountering resistance.
    • The leading engine was one of the Class Y6 2-8-8-2 compound articulateds, [...] The stack noise of one of these great brutes slogging up a grade was quite unforgettable. 1961 July, J. Geoffrey Todd, “Impressions of railroading in the United States: Part Two”, in Trains Illustrated, page 419:
    • 2014, Paul Salopek, Blessed. Cursed. Claimed., National Geographic (December 2014)https://web.archive.org/web/20150212214621/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/12/pilgrim-roads/salopek-text A miraculous desert rain. We slog, dripping, into As Safi, Jordan. We drive the sodden mules through wet streets. To the town’s only landmark. To the “Museum at the Lowest Place on Earth.”
  2. (broadly, intransitive) To work slowly and deliberately at a tedious task.
  3. To strike something with a heavy blow, especially a ball with a bat.
    • It was like being slogged by a heavyweight boxer.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
slogging Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
slogs Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
slogged Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
slogged Tense=Past lexicographic

Deriveds

sloggish · slogger · slog one's guts out · slog-sweep · footslog · sloggingly · slog away · slogfest

Synonyms

ambulate · navigate · pedestrianize · raik

Translations (29)

da ase (to walk slowly, encountering resistance) · bg влача се (to walk slowly, encountering resistance) · bg удрям силно (to strike something with a heavy blow, especially a ball with a bat) · fi raahustaa (to walk slowly, encountering resistance) · de schleppend bewegen (to walk slowly, encountering resistance) · de abplagen (to work slowly and deliberately at a tedious task) · de plagen (to work slowly and deliberately at a tedious task) · de prügeln (to strike something with a heavy blow, especially a ball with a bat) · ru вка́лывать (to work slowly and deliberately at a tedious task) · de verprügeln (to strike something with a heavy blow, especially a ball with a bat) · da okse (to walk slowly, encountering resistance) · it arrancare (to walk slowly, encountering resistance) · it camminare a fatica (to walk slowly, encountering resistance) · fi kumauttaa (to strike something with a heavy blow, especially a ball with a bat) · de quälen (to walk slowly, encountering resistance) · pl taszczyć się (to walk slowly, encountering resistance) · bg бъхтя се (to work slowly and deliberately at a tedious task) · fi löntystellä (to walk slowly, encountering resistance) · da traske (to walk slowly, encountering resistance) · cs dřít se (to work slowly and deliberately at a tedious task) · de schleppen (to walk slowly, encountering resistance) · cs mořit se (to work slowly and deliberately at a tedious task) · cs pachtit se (to work slowly and deliberately at a tedious task) · fi iskeä (to strike something with a heavy blow, especially a ball with a bat) · de abmühen (to work slowly and deliberately at a tedious task) · ru идти́ impf с трудом (to walk slowly, encountering resistance) · fi huitaista (to strike something with a heavy blow, especially a ball with a bat) · de schuften (to work slowly and deliberately at a tedious task) · es pencar (to work slowly and deliberately at a tedious task)