Synonyms of plodding

plodding 1 of 2

adjective

1

as in relentless

Related Words

• relentless
• unremitting
• persistent
• unrelenting
• steady
• stubborn
• dogged
• steadfast
• tenacious
• unflinching
• unabated
• patient
• unfailing
• unfaltering
• persevering
• tireless
• determined
• indefatigable
• pertinacious
• unflagging
• painstaking
• untiring
• unwavering
• diligent
• meticulous
• inexhaustible
• assiduous
• sedulous
• conscientious
• busy
• spirited
• dynamic
• active
• energetic
• vigorous
• feverish
• weariless
• laborious
• strenuous
• intense
• slavish
• industrious
• hard

Dissimilar Words

• sluggish
• lazy
• listless
• lackadaisical
• indolent
• slothful
• shiftless
• laggard
• languid
• desultory
• casual
• spiritless
• apathetic
• broken
• beat
• overworked
• drained
• jaded
• wearied
• spent
• overtaxed
• done in
• enervated
• sapped
• worn-out
• burned-out
• played out
• tuckered (out)

2

as in ambling

Related Words

• ambling
• shuffling
• heavy-footed
• lingering
• lethargic
• loitering
• slow-footed
• inching
• inert
• strolling
• loafing
• lounging
• inactive
• tarrying
• slowing
• deliberate
• leisurely
• decelerating
• dragging
• creeping
• crawling
• sluggish
• unhurried
• dilatory
• lagging
• poky
• procrastinating
• laggard
• slow
• languid
• measured
• stalling
• tardy
• poking
• dillydallying
• dawdling
• dallying
• snail-paced
• filibustering
• snaillike

Dissimilar Words

• rapid
• rushing
• speedy
• swift
• brisk
• hasty
• breathless
• running
• quick
• lightning
• fast
• racing
• flying
• dizzy
• snappy
• speeding
• whirlwind
• fleet
• meteoric
• ready
• expeditious
• bolting
• rocketing
• breakneck
• prompt
• whirling
• hurrying
• scudding
• warp-speed
• accelerated
• barreling
• scurrying
• careering
• zipping
• scooting
• rushed
• quickened
• hurried
• whisking
• hastened

plodding

2 of 2

verb

present participle of plod

1

as in laboring

to devote serious and sustained effort

plodded night and day to get the assignment done

Synonyms & Similar Words

• laboring
• struggling
• striving
• working
• endeavoring
• trying
• toiling
• plowing
• tugging
• drudging
• slogging
• sweating
• hustling
• slaving
• humping
• digging (away)
• grubbing
• plugging
• straining
• pegging (away)
• moiling
• travailing
• banging away
• fagging
• beavering (away)
• sweating blood
• applying (oneself)
• attacking
• buckling (down)
• trudging
• hammering (away)
• driving
• wading
• pitching in
• digging in
• exerting
• scratching
• essaying
• exercising
• grinding (out)
• scrabbling
• overworking
• eking out
• knuckling down
• overexerting
• putting out

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• breaking
• slackening
• easing (up)
• loafing
• chilling
• idling
• hanging (around or out)
• lounging
• shirking
• resting
• lazing
• dallying
• letting up
• bumming
• relaxing
• hacking (around)
• lolling
• playing
• unwinding
• slacking (off)
• goofing (off)
• basking
• hanging
• reposing
• footling
• dabbling
• goldbricking
• dillydallying
• trifling
• doodling
• fooling around
• messing around
• vegging out
• puttering (around)
• goofing (around)
• monkeying (around)
• pottering (around)
• hanging about
• fribbling

2

as in stumbling

to proceed or act clumsily or ineffectually

oxen plodding through deep mud

Synonyms & Similar Words

• stumbling
• struggling
• trudging
• shuffling
• blundering
• floundering
• limping
• bumbling
• lumbering
• lurching
• fumbling
• shambling
• jogging
• swaying
• flogging
• faltering
• reeling
• staggering
• wallowing
• tottering
• muddling
• weltering
• teetering

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• flying
• gliding
• coasting
• sailing
• zooming
• zipping
• kilting

3

as in dragging

to move slowly

plodded reluctantly off to work

Synonyms & Similar Words

• dragging
• crawling
• creeping
• shuffling
• poking
• slouching
• limping
• inching
• oozing
• creaking (along)
• snailing
• trudging
• shambling
• nosing
• lumbering
• tramping

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• flying
• racing
• speeding
• floating
• gliding
• sailing
• whizzing
• zipping
• hurrying
• tearing

4

as in shuffling

to move heavily or clumsily

wayfarers plodding across the sandy wastes

Synonyms & Similar Words

• shuffling
• stumbling
• stomping
• trudging
• shambling
• lurching
• sloughing
• barging
• floundering
• weaving
• pounding
• hauling
• dragging
• lumbering
• tramping
• stamping
• scuffling
• slogging
• galumphing
• clumping
• lumping
• stumping
• scuffing
• staggering
• flogging
• swaying
• flopping
• blundering
• waddling
• tromping
• tottering
• reeling
• careening
• doddering
• wobbling
• teetering

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• sliding
• gliding
• coasting
• waltzing
• whisking
• floating
• drifting
• hovering
• hanging
• breezing
• wafting
• poising

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of plodding

Adjective

Bennie Liebenberg, a former geologist at the mine who was serving as our guide, has the plodding, slightly wide-eyed manner of someone who has spent a lot of time underground. — James Dinneen, New Yorker, 13 Aug. 2026

During the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, activists from the gay community lambasted him and his institute for the plodding pace of research on the virus. — Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 28 July 2026

The audience was still as the band started playing a plodding rhythm. — Literary Hub, 27 July 2026

Brunson was too small (6-foot-2), not long enough (with a 6-foot-4 wingspan) and too plodding. — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 3 June 2026

Neither is known for having much of an off-the-dribble game that could hurt the plodding Porzingis or Horford. — Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 17 Apr. 2026

His jogging gait is a bit plodding. — Caleb Yum, Austin American Statesman, 5 Mar. 2026

His two-time matchup was Alejandro Kirk, an excellent hitter but, at 5-foot-8 and 245 pounds, a plodding runner. — Tyler Kepner, New York Times, 4 Mar. 2026

Where the film falters is in its plodding rhythm and clunky dialogue, much of which is delivered too flatly by actors who don’t exactly steal their scenes. — Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 4 Feb. 2026

Verb

The film is instead, in its strange and sometimes plodding manner, a call to simply sit and think about the contradictions of human character. — Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 4 Sep. 2026

In addition to sizzling 115-degree days, Las Vegas’ famous resorts and casinos are plodding through a tourism slump. — Marshall Cohen, CNN Money, 30 Aug. 2026

Santa, who was heavy and plodding with bad knees, couldn’t keep up as Gayle tailed this man through an alleyway. — Wilbert L. Cooper, Longreads, 25 Aug. 2026

That optionality may be more enticing for New York than just signing a plodding third center. — Tom Rende, Forbes.com, 7 Aug. 2026

The answer is complex, highlighting the dramatic differences between the public perception of a case and the careful, plodding way that evidence must be presented in a courtroom, experts said. — Sharon Bernstein, Sacbee.com, 27 July 2026

But plodding through them offers little pleasure, guilty or otherwise. — Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Times, 8 June 2026

The other human beings his size have either been plodding trees who can barely get up the floor or rail-thin gazelles who can’t handle the G-forces their bodies generate at full speed. — Jared Weiss, New York Times, 24 May 2026

Just last week, an Alameda County jury awarded $16 million to one such abuse victim, in a key case aimed at spurring long-plodding settlement talks between other abuse victims and the diocese. — Jakob Rodgers, Mercury News, 30 Apr. 2026