leaden

/lɛdn/

Other forms: leadenly

Something leaden moves in a heavy, slow way. After a sleepless night, your leaden feet will walk more sluggishly than usual to the bus stop.

Dull, heavy things can be described as leaden, like a dense, boring novel full of leaden dialog or your fatigued, leaden legs at the end of a full day's hike up a mountain. If something is the color of lead — a dull gray — that's also leaden, like the leaden, stormy sky. Finally, things made of lead are quite literally leaden, the word's original meaning, from a Germanic root meaning "heavy metal."

Definitions of leaden

1. adjective

   (of movement) slow and laborious
   “leaden steps”

   synonyms: plodding

   effortful

   requiring great physical effort
2. adjective

   lacking lightness or liveliness
   “a leaden conversation”

   synonyms: heavy

   dull

   lacking in liveliness or animation
3. adjective

   made heavy or weighted down with weariness
   “his leaden arms”

   synonyms: weighted

   heavy

   marked by great psychological weight; weighted down especially with sadness or troubles or weariness
4. adjective

   made of lead
   “a leaden weight”
5. adjective

   darkened with overcast
   “the sky was leaden and thick”

   synonyms: dull

   cloudy

   full of or covered with clouds