Shiftless

adj

adj ·2 syllables ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Lazy, unmotivated.

    "To expand, without bothering about it—without shiftless timidity on one side, or loquacious eagerness on the other—to the full compass of what he would have called a "pleasant" experience, was Newman's most definite programme of life."

  2. 2
    Untrustworthy as a result of being incompetent at the job.
  3. 3
    Destitute of shifts or expedients; lacking proper means.
Adjective
  1. 1
    lacking or characterized by lack of ambition or initiative wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
unambitiousaimlessapatheticapathisticalblasébone-lazy

Example

More examples

"Giving a scholarship to that ignorant, shiftless student is an injustice."

Etymology

From shift + -less.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.