Link Centre Dictionary

slippery

slip·pery

UK/ˈslɪpəɹi/ US/ˈslɪpɹi/ fairly common

adjective

1.

being such as to cause things to slip or slide

  • “slippery sidewalks”
  • “a slippery bar of soap”
  • “the streets are still slippy from the rain”
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Antonyms
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2.

not to be trusted

  • “how extraordinarily slippery a liar the camera is” James Agee
  • “they called Reagan the teflon president because mud never stuck to him”
Synonyms
Similar

Origin

From Middle English slipperie, an extended form ( + -y) of Middle English slipper, sliper (“slippery”), from Old English slipor (“slippery”), from Proto-Germanic *slipraz (“smooth, slippery”), equivalent to slip + -er. Compare also Middle English slibbri, slubbri (“slippery”) borrowed from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German slibberich (“slippery”). Cognate with German schlüpfrig (“slippery”), Danish slibrig (“slippery”), Swedish slipprig (“slippery”).

Phrases

  • slippery as an eel
  • slippery dick
  • slippery dip
  • slippery elm
  • slippery jack
  • slippery nipple
  • Slippery Sam
  • slippery sequence

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Word family

See also

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.