shiftless
adjective
shiftless is spelled S-H-I-F-T-L-E-S-S: 9 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 11 million words in written English, the 100,430th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, shiftless means “Lazy, unmotivated” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in shiftless?
| Letters | 9: S-H-I-F-T-L-E-S-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 11 million words; the 100,430th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is shiftless?
Shiftless appears about once in every 11 million words in written English, the 100,430th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce shiftless?
Shiftless has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-VGPaleontologist-shiftless.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of shiftless
- more shiftless comparative
- most shiftless superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does shiftless mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Lazy, unmotivated.
- 2
Untrustworthy as a result of being incompetent at the job.
- 3
Destitute of shifts or expedients; lacking proper means.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does shiftless come from?
From shift + -less.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).