Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Lagging behind / Trailing: Describes a state of being significantly slow, sluggish, or inferior, failing to keep pace with others or with expected progress.
   • Underperforming / Mediocre: Indicates a consistently poor or substandard level of performance or achievement.

2. Onomatopoeia:

   • Sputtering / Crackling feebly: A word that imitates the sound of small, dull, sporadic explosions or pops, like those from weak firecrackers.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:

  • Nó học lẹt đẹt mãi không tiến bộ. (His studies are lagging behind with no improvement.)
  • Đội của họ cứ lẹt đẹt ở cuối bảng xếp hạng. (Their team keeps trailing at the bottom of the rankings.)

• Onomatopoeia:

  • Những quả pháo nhỏ nổ lẹt đẹt. (The small firecrackers went off with a feeble sputter.)

Advanced Usage

• The word is often used reduplicatively (lẹt đẹt) to emphasize the continuous or repetitive nature of the slowness or the sound.
• It carries a negative connotation of disappointment or ineffectiveness when used as an adjective.

Variants and Related Words

• Tụt hậu (v): to fall behind, to lag.

  • Nền kinh tế có nguy cơ tụt hậu. (The economy risks falling behind.)

• Ửng ực (onomatopoeia): a word imitating a gurgling or bubbling sound, different but similarly descriptive of a specific sound.

Synonyms

• Lagging: failing to keep pace.
• Sputtering: making a series of soft explosive sounds.
• Underachieving: performing below potential.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• Đi lẹt đẹt phía sau: to trudge along behind.

  • Cậu bé đi lẹt đẹt phía sau đoàn người. (The boy trudged along behind the group.)

• Công việc lẹt đẹt: work that is progressing very slowly.

  • Dự án đang tiến triển lẹt đẹt. (The project is progressing at a snail's pace.)

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