lazy

Lazy is not wanting to make the effort, and then not making it. Think of the pan left to soak for three days, or the friend who takes the lift up one floor.

The word stretches past people. A lazy Sunday is slow and pleasant with nothing shameful in it, and the lazy river at a water park just drifts you round in a circle. In an eye clinic, a lazy eye is one that wanders and stops pulling its weight. The frame you meet most is too lazy to: too lazy to cook, too lazy to walk round the block. Mind the sting, though. Calling a person lazy is an accusation about their character, so English reaches for laid-back or relaxed when no blame is meant.