slough
slough — noun
- sloughsingular
- sloughsplural
1. a long-lasting feeling of great unhappiness and hopelessness, as if you are stuc
a long-lasting feeling of great unhappiness and hopelessness, as if you are stuck in a dark place you cannot escape from
After losing his job, David fell into a deep slough of despair that lasted for months.
collocation: slough of despair
Zola described the slough of hopelessness she experienced after her grandmother passed away.
pattern: slough of [emotion]
After his wife left, the old fisherman sank into a slough of misery he could not escape.
Shirin felt trapped in a slough of sadness that nothing seemed able to lift.
A therapist helped the young musician climb out of the slough of grief after the accident.
- despair
stronger and more urgent; slough suggests a longer, heavier state
- melancholy
more poetic and less severe; slough implies being stuck
- hopelessness
focuses on the loss of hope; slough includes the weight of sadness too
文法句型
a slough of [emotion]
用法筆記
Often used in the phrase 'a slough of despair' or 'a slough of despond'. The phrase 'Slough of Despond' originates from John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, where it is a swamp that represents depression. Pronounced /slʌf/ — rhyming with 'rough' and 'tough'.
常見錯誤
2. a low, muddy area of ground that stays wet for most of the year, often covered w
a low, muddy area of ground that stays wet for most of the year, often covered with shallow water and soft mud, similar to a marsh or a swamp
The hikers walked carefully around the slough to avoid sinking into the soft mud.
Herons and egrets build their nests among the reeds in the coastal slough.
domain: geography / wildlife habitat
After three days of heavy rain the field turned into a muddy slough that was impossible to cross.
Conservation workers built a wooden walkway across the slough so visitors could watch birds without harming the wetland.
A thick layer of rotting leaves covered the dark water of the forest slough.
- dry land
firm, solid ground rather than wet mud
用法筆記
Pronounced /slaʊ/ (UK) or /sluː/ (US) — rhymes with 'cow' (UK) or 'blue' (US). Do not pronounce like the sadness sense (/slʌf/). In American English, the word often refers to a side channel or inlet of a river in the southern wetlands.
常見錯誤
3. a large town in Berkshire, southern England, about thirty kilometres west of cen
a large town in Berkshire, southern England, about thirty kilometres west of central London, where many people live and travel to London each day for work
The Noor family moved to Slough last year after Mrs. Noor found work at the Mars chocolate factory there.
proper noun: always capitalised
Slough is a busy commuter town with direct trains to London Paddington station.
Fujitsu and O2 have built large offices in Slough's business park near the M4 motorway.
The early morning train from Slough to London Paddington takes only eighteen minutes.
文法句型
always capitalised as Slough
用法筆記
This is a proper noun and is always written with a capital letter. Pronounced /slaʊ/ — like the wetland sense, not like the sadness sense.
常見錯誤
❌ 'She was stuck in a slough of sadness in Slough.' — do not confuse the place name (pronounced /slaʊ/) with the depression sense (pronounced /slʌf/).
slough — verb
- sloughpresent simple I / you / we / they
- sloughs3rd person singular
- sloughing-ing form
- sloughedpast simple
1. when a reptile, amphibian, or other creature naturally removes its old outer lay
when a reptile, amphibian, or other creature naturally removes its old outer layer of skin so that fresh new skin can appear underneath
The snake sloughed its old skin in one long, see-through piece.
transitive use: slough + old skin
Lizards slough their skin several times a year as they grow bigger.
The iguana sloughed off the dry, flaky patches of skin from its back legs during the warm summer months.
After the frog sloughed its outer layer, its skin looked bright green and very moist.
The biologist watched the python slough its skin inside the warm, humid enclosure at the zoo.
文法句型
slough + something (transitive)
slough + off (phrasal)
用法筆記
Used mainly in scientific or formal writing about animals. For humans, the everyday word is 'shed' (e.g. 'shed dead skin cells'), not 'slough'. The phrasal verb 'slough off' can also be used figuratively to mean 'get rid of something unwanted'.