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.
Example
“Oily substances render things slippery.”
Other meanings
Evasive; difficult to pin down.
“a slippery person”
Unstable; changeable; inconstant.
Related words
- nonslippery
- slipperily
- slipperiness
- sloppery
- unslippery
- slippery dick
- slippery dip
- slippery jack
- slippery sequence
- slippery as an eel
- slippery slide
- slippery elm
Word history
From Old English "slipor".
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “slippery” on Wiktionary, by its contributors, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.