as in snails
someone who moves slowly or more slowly than others
tried to spur on the laggards at the back of the line during the hike
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of laggards
Traders have been buying tech giants on dips and selling big-name laggards including Costco, UnitedHealth and Alibaba, according to data from retail trading giant Robinhood Markets published via Sherwood.
—
Oliver Renick, CNBC, 12 May 2026
The laggards in the polls also took on Steyer, painting him as hypocritical for claiming an environmentalist’s mantle, after acquiring some of his vast wealth with fossil fuel investments.
—James Rainey, Los Angeles Times, 6 May 2026
Cyclical shares such as autos, banks and industrials were also among the biggest laggards.
—Levin Stamm, Bloomberg, 20 Apr. 2026
Sunday saw many laggards penalized for failure to obey the national summons.
—Aj Willingham, AJC.com, 1 Apr. 2026
The California Democratic Party pitched its new, periodic polls as a way to help voters and campaigns make sense of the unusually wide-open race for governor — and help encourage laggards to quit the race.
—Ben Paviour, Sacbee.com, 24 Mar. 2026
The conflict is creating leaders and laggards, JPMorgan analysts wrote Monday.
—Rohan Goswami, semafor.com, 3 Mar. 2026
The performance gap between fast learners and laggards is widening.
—Matthew C. Meade, Forbes.com, 21 Jan. 2026
McKinsey researchers also found that the gap in digital transformation maturity between market leaders and laggards has increased by 60% over the past three years.
—Igor Rikalo, Forbes, 23 Jan. 2025
Oliver Renick, CNBC, 12 May 2026
The laggards in the polls also took on Steyer, painting him as hypocritical for claiming an environmentalist’s mantle, after acquiring some of his vast wealth with fossil fuel investments.
—James Rainey, Los Angeles Times, 6 May 2026
Cyclical shares such as autos, banks and industrials were also among the biggest laggards.
—Levin Stamm, Bloomberg, 20 Apr. 2026
Sunday saw many laggards penalized for failure to obey the national summons.
—Aj Willingham, AJC.com, 1 Apr. 2026
The California Democratic Party pitched its new, periodic polls as a way to help voters and campaigns make sense of the unusually wide-open race for governor — and help encourage laggards to quit the race.
—Ben Paviour, Sacbee.com, 24 Mar. 2026
The conflict is creating leaders and laggards, JPMorgan analysts wrote Monday.
—Rohan Goswami, semafor.com, 3 Mar. 2026
The performance gap between fast learners and laggards is widening.
—Matthew C. Meade, Forbes.com, 21 Jan. 2026
McKinsey researchers also found that the gap in digital transformation maturity between market leaders and laggards has increased by 60% over the past three years.
—Igor Rikalo, Forbes, 23 Jan. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for laggards
Noun
-
However, borax will not work on pests that aren't interested in eating it, such as termites, bed bugs, mosquitoes, flying insects above ground level, or any number of other outdoor pests, such as slugs and snails.—
Louise Parks,
Martha Stewart,
17 May 2026
-
The snails’ iron-rich shell is a vital part of their survival strategy—but not as a protective armor, says Chong Chen, a senior scientist at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology and a leading expert on the scaly-foot snail, who led the effort to map its genome.—
Adam Kovac,
Scientific American,
15 May 2026
Noun
-
This spring, Brood II stragglers will emerge between late April and May in states like Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Connecticut, and North Carolina, according to a map from the University of Connecticut.—
Finch Walker,
USA Today,
14 Apr. 2026
-
They’re known, aptly, as stragglers.—
Addy Bink,
The Hill,
12 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Laggards.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/laggards. Accessed 25 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
