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Definition of slow verb from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

slow

verb
 
/sləʊ/
 
/sləʊ/
[intransitive, transitive]
Verb Forms
present simple I / you / we / they slow
 
/sləʊ/
 
/sləʊ/
he / she / it slows
 
/sləʊz/
 
/sləʊz/
past simple slowed
 
/sləʊd/
 
/sləʊd/
past participle slowed
 
/sləʊd/
 
/sləʊd/
-ing form slowing
 
/ˈsləʊɪŋ/
 
/ˈsləʊɪŋ/
jump to other results
  1. to go or to make something/somebody go at a slower speed or be less active
    • Economic growth has slowed a little.
    • The bus slowed to a halt.
    • He has been slowed by a knee injury.
    • slow down The car slowed down as it approached the junction.
    • indications that the US economy is slowing down
    • You must slow down (= work less hard) or you'll make yourself ill.
    • slow up The game slowed up a little in the second half.
    • slow somebody/something Economic data for last month shows steps taken by the government are slowing growth.
    • We hope to slow the spread of the disease.
    • slow somebody/something down/up The ice on the roads was slowing us down.
    • He accused the government of intentionally slowing down the process.
    • Sending this file over the network to the printer may slow up the whole network.
    see also slowdown
    Extra Examples
    • Slow down a little!
    • Time seemed to slow down as she fell.
    • I was nearing West Road when the traffic slowed to a crawl.
    • The flow of people into the building slowed to a trickle.
    • The two of them had slowed almost to a stop.
    • Sales have slowed down quite markedly.
    • Bill slowed his pace to allow her to catch up with him.
    • Rachel tried to slow her breathing.
    • She very deliberately slowed her steps.
    • The roadblocks hardly slowed them at all.
    Topics Transport by car or lorryb1
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb
    • considerably
    • dramatically
    • markedly
    verb + slow
    • begin to
    • try to
    • be expected to
    phrases
    • slow to a crawl
    • slow to a snail’s pace
    • slow to a walk
    See full entry
    Word OriginOld English slāw ‘slow-witted, sluggish’, of Germanic origin.
See slow in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee slow in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
perspective
noun
 
 
From the Word list
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B2
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