I am trying to find an adjective describing "very slow". Can I know what are the possible candidates or, better, the best word for it?
To further clarify my question, I am not looking for an adjective to describe something that one think might be slow but, instead, in a more objective way. For example, given an object A you describe its speed is "slow", and you know that the speed of object B is slower than that of object A, then what is the best word you use to describe the speed of B?
The ideal answer would be the case that: once one said A is slow, B is xxx (where xxx is answer), then we will have no doubt that B is slower than A.
Another example, when someone said A is warm and B is hot, then we know that B is warmer than A. I am looking for a word for slow in this case.
Bonus question: if there is also an object C that is slower than B, what word would you use to describe C given C is faster than "not moving". Or, what is the longest sequence of adjectives that we can describe things with different degrees of slowness?
Best Answer
I can't think of multiple single-word elements that are unambiguously scaled (is "sluggish" faster or slower than "plodding"?) but there are certainly phrases that can be used...
(I'd be inclined personally to say that "sluggish" is a good substitute for "a bit slow"--it's slower than normal, but not as slow as just plain "slow"--but I'm not at all sure that it would be widely agreed upon.)
Going in the other direction, you could have: