slippery.
Of a surface, having low friction, often due to being covered in a non-viscous liquid, and therefore hard to grip, hard to stand on without falling, etc.
Meaning & usage
Of a surface, having low friction, often due to being covered in a non-viscous liquid, and therefore hard to grip, hard to stand on without falling, etc.
Oily substances render things slippery.
Evasive; difficult to pin down.
a slippery person
a slippery promise
Liable to slip; not standing firm.
Unstable; changeable; inconstant.
Wanton; unchaste; loose in morals.
Where this word comes from
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”).
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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.