as in to smear
to put a thick layer of a liquid, cream, etc. over (something)
We ate lobster slathered with butter. She slathered her skin with sunscreen.
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
as in gobs
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of slather
Lauren Panoff, Verywell Health, 14 Apr. 2026
Frankie slathered a plain Italian roll with Cheez Whiz, just like his father liked to do.
—Danielle Paquette The Washington Post, Arkansas Online, 12 Apr. 2026
Lauren Landers, The Spruce, 10 Mar. 2026
The slather of cookie-crumbly frosting helps mask it, to a point.
—Alex Beggs, Bon Appetit Magazine, 7 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for slather
Verb
Layer some slices of cooked tempeh onto whole-grain toast slathered with ripe avocado.
—Lauren Panoff, Verywell Health, 14 Apr. 2026
Frankie slathered a plain Italian roll with Cheez Whiz, just like his father liked to do.
—Danielle Paquette The Washington Post, Arkansas Online, 12 Apr. 2026
Noun
Simply blend wood ash with enough water to make a paste, slather the paste over the greasy surface that needs cleaning, buff the ash and oil away with a soft cloth or sponge, and then wipe the whole area down with a damp cloth to remove any leftover ash and other messy residue.
—Lauren Landers, The Spruce, 10 Mar. 2026
The slather of cookie-crumbly frosting helps mask it, to a point.
—Alex Beggs, Bon Appetit Magazine, 7 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for slather
Recent Examples of Synonyms for slather
Verb
-
Farran asked, gazing at their graves — cardboard signs smeared with handwritten Arabic because the war has made a proper burial in their village impossible.—
Isabel Debre,
Los Angeles Times,
30 Apr. 2026
-
Your goal is to remove messes, not smear them.—
Louise Parks,
Martha Stewart,
29 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The iPhone maker isn’t spending gobs of cash in the race to expand AI computing capacity, instead partnering with Google to power artificial intelligence features.—
Bloomberg,
Mercury News,
6 Mar. 2026
-
There are gobs of money to be made selling enterprise software, but dulling the impact of AI is also a useful feint.—
Josh Tyrangiel,
The Atlantic,
10 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
This latter-day diner is true to the genre, down to its Formica, chrome and gum-cracking soul, with breakfast understood as the apotheosis of the day and the almost supernaturally fluffy pancakes, anointed in syrup and salted honey-maple butter, available until closing time.—
Ligaya Mishan,
New York Times,
11 May 2026
-
Lewer wasn’t the only prizewinner anointed at the ceremony.—
News Desk,
Artforum,
8 May 2026
Noun
-
The tech giant announced a slew of health updates on Thursday that put its AI coach front and center, part of a broader strategy to compete with OpenAI, Microsoft and a wave of other tech companies racing to dominate how people learn about their health.—
Lisa Eadicicco,
CNN Money,
7 May 2026
-
As Vietnamese refugees arrived in large numbers in the United States, publishers rushed to release a slew of books to help children understand and accept their new neighbors.—
H.M.A. Leow,
JSTOR Daily,
7 May 2026
Verb
-
Wet the stained area with water, dab it with rubbing alcohol, and blot the carpet.—
Daley Quinn,
Southern Living,
5 May 2026
-
Simply rub the cut side of the tomato on your fingers or dab some of the juice onto your hands.—
Karla Walsh,
Better Homes & Gardens,
1 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
In collaboration with the Robotics & AI Institute, the robot has been subjected to complex full-body motions—including dynamic locomotion, aerial maneuvers, and recovery from instability—to stress-test its software stack.—
Jijo Malayil,
Interesting Engineering,
6 May 2026
-
The other ingredients in Nara Smith’s TikTok recipe Beef tallow is the headline ingredient, but Nara Smith’s TikTok recipe leans on a stack of supporting ingredients that each play a specific role in skin hydration.—
Ryan Brennan
May 5,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
5 May 2026
Verb
-
To celebrate, the president wants to offer free admissions that day to the country’s national parks, a self-serving gesture, no doubt, but one that is no surprise for a man who spent much of his adult life plastering his name on the sides of buildings, airplanes and casino hotels.—
Leonard Greene,
Mercury News,
27 Dec. 2025
-
In one scene, Gracie Abrams texts Taylor a picture of the singer plastered on the side of a hotel in Indianapolis.—
Maya Georgi,
Rolling Stone,
23 Dec. 2025
Noun
-
This dynamic creates a survival-of-the-fittest scenario where smaller companies — who can’t afford to sit on piles of unsold metals — might be forced into the arms of larger competitors.—
Tiisetso Motsoeneng,
semafor.com,
4 May 2026
-
Venice is a city built on timber piles driven into mud more than a thousand years ago, its infrastructure both stubborn and fragile.—
Daniel Cassady,
ARTnews.com,
4 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Slather.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/slather. Accessed 11 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
