Shiftless

Definition: Shiftless

Shiftless

Adjective

1. Lacking or characterized by lack of ambition or initiative; lazy; "a shiftless student"; "studied in a shiftless way".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "shiftless" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1823. (references)

Synonym: Shiftless

Nonpreparation

Shiftless, improvident, unthrifty, thriftless, thoughtless, unguarded; happy-go-lucky; caught napping; (inexpectant); unpremeditated.

Unskillfulness

Unaccustomed, unused, untrained; uninitiated, unconversant; (ignorant); shiftless; unstatesmanlike.

Crosswords: Shiftless

They're shiftless. They might be gods (Wolfen; writing credit: David Eyre; Whitley Strieber)

Naw, they're shiftless, dame-chasing, ambitionless (Lady of Burlesque; writing credit: James Gunn; Gypsy Rose Lee)

The Scheme of Shiftless Sam Smith (1913)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Minorities

Hungary

As a result, negative stereotypes of Roma as poor, shiftless, and a social burden persist. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Albanian

pa fuqi, i squllët (lymphatic, mushy, Pappy, pasty), i ngathët (angular, atonic, awkward, clumsy, cubbish, dawdler, dead, dead alive, dull, dullish, footless, gauche, gawky, ham-fisted, heavy, heavy-handed, hulking, inept, laggard, languid, left handed, lubberly, lumbering, lymphatic, maladroit, oafish, pedestrian, poky, quick, slack, torpid, ungainly, unhandy, unmoved, unready, unwieldy, wooden). (various references)

Arabic 

‏كسول (dull, idle, inactive, indolent, inert, languid, languorous, lazy, lethargic, lumpish, passive, slothful, slow, sluggard, sluggardly, sluggish, supine), ‏عديم الحيلة, ‏عديم التدبر. (various references)

Bulgarian 

некадърен (dismal, dud, feckless, incapable, incompetent, ineffective, inefficient, wet, worthless), мързелив (dozy, faineant, idle, indolent, lazy, sluggish, work-shy), безотговорен (carefree, erratic, happy go lucky, harum scarum, irresponsible, unconscionable, wildcat, worthless), безпомощен (feckless, helpless, lost, silly, stranded, unable). (various references)

Czech

neschopný (bungling, disabled, inadequate, inapt, incapable, incompetent, ineffective, inefficient, powerless, unable, unfit, unworthy, useless). (various references)

French

qui manque de ressources, paresseux, flemmard, fainéant. (various references)

German

träge (dull, idle, idly, indolent, indolently, inert, inertly, languid, languidly, languorous, languorously, lazily, lazy, lethargic, lethargically, phlegmatic, slack, slothful, slow, sluggardly, sluggish, stagnant, supine, supinely, tardy, torpid), energielos (weak). (various references)

Greek 

ανίκανοσ (duffer, helpless, impotent, incapable, incompetent, inefficient, unable, unfit), αδρανήσ (abeyant, inactive, inert, inoperative, nerveless, remiss), οκνηρόσ (idle, lazy, otiose, sluggard). (various references)

Hebrew 

לא יעיל (bootless, ineffective, ineffectual, inefficient, inept), בטל� י. (various references)

Hungarian

lusta (idle, indolent, laggard, lazy, slothful, sluggard, sluggish, tardy), ügyefogyott (bumbling, fumbler, galoot, helpless, resourceless). (various references)

Italian

inefficiente (feckless, ineffective, inefficient), incapace (disabled, dud, inapt, incapable, incapable person, incompetent, ineffective, inefficient, maladjusted, unable, unfit, useless), inabile (incapable, inexpert, invalid, unable, unfit). (various references)

Manx

drollaneagh (lazy). (various references)

Pig Latin

iftlessshay.(various references)

Portuguese

sem iniciativa (stick-in-the-mud), sem camisa, inepto (inept, unapt, unpractical, unqualified), indolente (apathetic, easygoing, idle, indolent, lazy, loafer, loller, lotus-eater, lounger, lumpish, remiss, slack, sleepy, slothful, slowcoach, supine, tardy), desajeitado (awkward, backhanded, blundering, boorish, bulky, bumbling, chuckle, cloddish, clownish, clumsy, cubbish, floppy, fumbling, gawky, graceless, hawbuck, hobbledehoy, homely, hulking, ill-favored, ill-favoured, ill-mannered, inexpert, left-handed, lout, loutish, low-bred, lubber, lubberly, maladroit, muff, uncouth, ungainly, ungraceful, unhandy, unskilful, unwieldy, wooden). (various references)

Romanian

neputincios (helpless, impotent, impuissant, incapable, infirm, limp, nerveless, palsied, silly, slight), leneş (bum, dull, easeful, easy going, idle, Idler, idly, lazily, lazy, lazybones, loafer, loiterer, otiose, slothful, sluggard, sluggish, torpid, truant, vacant), incapabil (effete, feckless, impotent, incapable, ineffective, ineffectual, inefficient, insufficient, unable, unapt, unequal, unfit). (various references)

Russian 

беспомощный (feckless, helpless). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

nesnalažljiv, bespomoćan (helpless). (various references)

Spanish

torpe (awkward, blockish, blundering, bumbling, butterfingered, butterfingers, clumsy, duffer, dull, dullish, fathead, heavy, labored, laboured, left handed, left-hander, logy, lumberingly, rough, slow witted, slowcoach, slowpoke, stodgily, thick, torpid, wall eyed), perezoso (Daw, deadbeat, idle, indolent, lackadaisical, layabout, lazy, rottenly, sloth, slothful, slowcoach, slowpoke, sluggard, sluggish), indolente (easygoing, indolent). (various references)

Swedish

rådlös (irresolute, perplexed), initiativlös, håglös (dull, listless). (various references)

Thai

ซึ่งไม่เต็มใจทำ. (various references)

Turkish

sünepe (slovenly, softy), miskin (lazy, slacker, sleepy, slothful, slowcoach, sluggard, sluggish, squalid), haylaz (abandoned, good for nothing, idle, lazy, naughty, rapscallion, scamp), biçare (helpless, wretched), beceriksiz (awkward, bungler, bungling, clumsy, Duff, duffer, feckless, flat-footed, fumbling, gauche, gawky, ham-fisted, ham-handed, heavy-handed, helpless, impractical, inapt, incompetent, ineffective, ineffectual, inefficacious, inept, inexpert, left handed, lubber, maladroit, manque, ne'er do well, never-do-well, oaf, oafish, resourceless, rude, slouch, unaccomplished, unhandy, unskilful, untalented), çaresiz (beyond retrieve, despairing, desperate, helpless, incurable, inevitable, irredeemable, irremediable, irreparable, past cure, past retrieve, remediless, without means). (various references)

Turkmen 

kelesaс (good for nothing). (various references)

Ukrainian

безпорадний (feckless, helpless, overcome), бездіяльний (deedless, dormant, easeful, effortless, inactive, indolent, killed, otiose, torpid, vacuous), простодушний (artless, guileless, onefold, simple-hearted, untutored). (various references)

Vietnamese 

nhác; bất lực, lười, khờ dại (half-witted, idiotic, idiotical, ill-advised, ill-judged, imbecile, insipient, lubberly, sillily, spoonily), không biết xoay xở vô hiệu quả, hèn kém vụng về. (various references)

Welsh

didoreth (fickle, silly). (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "shiftless": shiftlessly, shiftlessness, shiftlessnesses. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Shiftless" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: shitlist. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: fishless.

-2 letters: hisself, hitless, leftish, selfish, stifles.

-3 letters: elfish, feists, fetish, filets, filses, filths, fishes, fliest, flites, heists, hisses, islets, istles, itself, shiels, shiest, shifts, shists, sliest, stifle, stiles, thesis.

-4 letters: feist, felts, files, filet, filth, fists, flesh, flies, flite, flits, hefts, heils, heist, hests, hilts, hists, isles, islet, istle, lefts, lifts, lists, lithe.

+2 letters: shiftlessly.

+3 letters: filthinesses.

+4 letters: faithlessness, flightinesses, lightfastness, shiftlessness.

+5 letters: faithfulnesses, fatherlinesses, mirthfulnesses, rightfulnesses, sprightfulness, thriftlessness.