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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

glide.

To move softly, smoothly, or effortlessly.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈɡlaɪd//ˈɡlɛɪd/Northumbria
  1. To move softly, smoothly, or effortlessly.

    intransitive
  2. To fly unpowered, as of an aircraft. Also relates to gliding birds and flying fish.

    intransitive
  3. To cause to glide.

    transitive
  4. To pass with a glide, as the voice.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English gliden, from Old English glīdan, from Proto-West Germanic *glīdan, from Proto-Germanic *glīdaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰleydʰ-. Cognate with West Frisian glide, glydzje, Low German glieden, Dutch glijden, German gleiten, Norwegian Nynorsk gli, Danish glide, Swedish glida, Finnish liitää.

noun/ˈɡlaɪd//ˈɡlɛɪd/Northumbria
  1. The act of gliding.

  2. A transitional sound, especially a semivowel.

  3. An attack or preparatory movement made by sliding down the opponent’s blade, keeping it in constant contact.

  4. A bird, the glede or kite.

  5. A kind of cap affixed to the base of the legs of furniture to prevent it from damaging the floor while being moved.

  6. The joining of two sounds without a break.

  7. A smooth and sliding step in dancing the waltz.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English gliden, from Old English glīdan, from Proto-West Germanic *glīdan, from Proto-Germanic *glīdaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰleydʰ-. Cognate with West Frisian glide, glydzje, Low German glieden, Dutch glijden, German gleiten, Norwegian Nynorsk gli, Danish glide, Swedish glida, Finnish liitää.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.