slippery

adjective

slip·​pery ˈsli-p(ə-)rē 

slipperier; slipperiest

1

a

: causing or tending to cause something to slide or fall

slippery roads

b

: tending to slip from the grasp

a slippery fish

2

a

: not firmly fixed : unstable

b

: not precise or fixed in meaning : ambiguous, elusive

3

: not to be trusted : tricky

slipperiness noun

Synonyms

• furtive
• shady
• shifty
• sly
• sneaking
• sneaky
• stealthy

Examples of slippery in a Sentence

The trails were muddy and slippery.

Fish are slippery to hold.

The sign cautions: “Slippery when wet.”

Recent Examples on the Web

The snow and slippery conditions resulted in stuck vehicles blocking intersections and streets. —CBS News, 1 Dec. 2024

Besides flight delays and cancellations, severe weather can also impact road travel as streets become slippery from snow and ice. —Rachel Dobkin, Newsweek, 29 Nov. 2024

Just barely beneath the surface of the joke lurks a slippery truth: For some, freedom has divorced us from the land, and therefore, from the roots of our food system. —Lyndsay C. Green, Detroit Free Press, 27 Nov. 2024

Google Chrome is the top of a slippery funnel that users slide down, deeper into the Google ecosystem—which is precisely why, following a landmark antitrust ruling, the United States Department of Justice is trying to wrest Chrome away from the company. —Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 27 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

slipper entry 1 + -y entry 1

Note: As the earliest occurrence of slippery appears to be in the Coverdale Bible (1535, Psalm 35:6), it has been suggested that the addition of the suffix -y to the adjective slipper copies German schlipfferig in Luther's translation of the same passage (1534, present-day German schlüpfrig). The German word is ultimately from the same Germanic base as slip entry 5 (see Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology).

First Known Use

circa 1500, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing slippery

• slippery elm
• slippery slope

Kids Definition

slippery

adjective

slip·​pery ˈslip-(ə-)rē 

slipperier; slipperiest

1

: having a surface smooth enough to cause one to slide or lose one's hold

2

: not worthy of trust : tricky, crafty

slipperiness noun