couch potato

Thân thiện

A person is being a couch potato on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • An idler who spends much time on a couch (usually watching television): A person who is habitually lazy and inactive, spending excessive leisure time sitting or lying on a couch, typically while watching television.

Usage

• The term is a humorous, informal, and often mildly critical label for a person with a very sedentary lifestyle centered around passive entertainment.
• It is used as a countable noun.

Examples

• Noun:
  • After he retired, he turned into a real couch potato, watching TV all day.
  • I need to go for a run; I've been a couch potato all weekend.
  • The documentary explored the health risks associated with being a couch potato.

Advanced Usage

• Cultural Reference: The term became popular in the late 20th century, reflecting the rise of television and home video entertainment. It evokes an image of a person who is as inert and stationary as a potato.
• Self-deprecating Use: People often use the term humorously about themselves.
  • "Don't mind me, I'm just being a couch potato tonight."

Variants and Related Words

• Couch-potato (adj, hyphenated): Used attributively to describe related behaviors or items.
  • He has a couch-potato lifestyle.
  • It was a couch-potato evening of movies and snacks.

Synonyms

• Sluggard: A lazy, inactive person (more formal/literary).
• Idler: A person who spends time doing nothing.
• Layabout: A person who is habitually lazy.
• Binge-watcher: A person who watches multiple episodes of a TV series in rapid succession (a specific modern type of couch potato behavior).

Antonyms

• Fitness enthusiast: A person who is very keen on exercise and physical activity.
• Go-getter: An ambitiously energetic person.

Related Idioms/Phrases

• "Become one with the couch": A humorous, exaggerated way to describe the act of lying on the couch for a very long time without moving, similar to being a couch potato.
  • After Thanksgiving dinner, I just became one with the couch.

Học thuật

Noun

1. an idler who spends much time on a couch (usually watching television)