slippery

slippery — adjective

1. A surface that is so smooth, wet, or icy that you lose your footing on it, or an

1.adjectiveB1
Definition

A surface that is so smooth, wet, or icy that you lose your footing on it, or an object that slides out of your hands easily.

Example

Zuri slipped on the kitchen floor right after she mopped it with soap.

slippery floor after mopping

Adina told the children to walk carefully across the wet tiles by the swimming pool.

Common collocations
  • slippery floor
  • slippery surface
  • slippery road
  • slippery when wet
  • slippery slope
  • dangerously slippery
  • extremely slippery
  • a little slippery
Synonyms
  • slick

    more specific — implies a thin layer of liquid (oil, water) on a smooth surface

  • greasy

    implies a fatty or oily film rather than water or ice

  • icy

    specifically covered in ice; more restricted in meaning

  • smooth

    broader — lacks the danger/loss-of-grip connotation of slippery

Antonyms
  • rough

    a rough surface provides friction and is not slippery

  • grippy

    informal; describes a surface that provides good traction

  • sticky

    the opposite quality — things adhere rather than slide

Grammar Patterns

slippery + noun

be + slippery

get/grow + slippery

Usage Note

Often used with nouns describing surfaces that people walk or stand on: floor, road, pavement, path, rocks, tiles, stairs. Also used for objects that are hard to grip, such as fish, soap, or handles.

Common Mistakes

The floor is slippery after rain.
The floor becomes slippery when rainwater mixes with the wax coating.
Learners often omit the cause; specifying what makes it slippery improves clarity.

2. Describes a person who cannot be trusted because they are dishonest, evasive, or

2.adjectiveB2
Definition

Describes a person who cannot be trusted because they are dishonest, evasive, or skilled at hiding their true intentions.

Example

Reema's defence lawyer was slippery — he always found ways to bend the rules.

slippery + lawyer / dishonest professional

The car salesman seemed charming, but Benjamin found him slippery and looked elsewhere.

Common collocations
  • slippery character
  • slippery customer
  • slippery politician
  • slippery lawyer
  • slippery type
Synonyms
  • untrustworthy

    more direct and formal; lacks the cunning connotation of slippery

  • shady

    informal; suggests dishonest activity more than personal evasiveness

  • deceitful

    stronger moral judgment; implies deliberate lying rather than evasive talk

  • sly

    emphasises cleverness in hiding intentions; can be admiring in some contexts

Antonyms
  • trustworthy

    direct opposite — someone you can count on

  • straightforward

    describes someone who speaks openly and does not hide their intentions

  • honest

    simple moral opposite

Grammar Patterns

slippery + noun (person/character/type)

Usage Note

Typically used with nouns that label people by role: salesman, politician, lawyer, customer, character, type. Rarely used for people you know personally — applying it to a friend would be a strong insult. The closest synonym in register is 'shady' (informal) or 'untrustworthy' (neutral).

Common Mistakes

My friend John is very slippery.
I do not trust that salesman
he seems like a slippery character.' — Applying slippery to a close friend sounds unnatural and overly harsh; reserve it for people in a professional or public context.

3. Describes a word, concept, or idea that is difficult to define clearly or to gra

3.adjectiveC1
Definition

Describes a word, concept, or idea that is difficult to define clearly or to grasp fully because its meaning shifts depending on the context or the person using it.

Example

Lakan found the phrase 'academic freedom' slippery — every professor at the meeting used it differently.

slippery + abstract phrase/concept

Élise tried to define 'respect' but the word felt too slippery to capture in one sentence.

Common collocations
  • slippery term
  • slippery concept
  • slippery word
  • slippery idea
  • slippery notion
  • slippery phrase
  • notoriously slippery
  • rather slippery
Synonyms
  • elusive

    very close in meaning; emphasises that the thing is hard to catch or pin down

  • ambiguous

    more neutral — implies multiple possible meanings rather than deliberate vagueness

  • vague

    suggests insufficient detail rather than inherent shiftiness of meaning

  • nebulous

    formal; describes something hazy and ill-defined

Antonyms
  • clear-cut

    describes something with firm, well-defined boundaries

  • precise

    exact and unambiguous in meaning

  • concrete

    describes something tangible and specific rather than abstract

Grammar Patterns

slippery + abstract noun

be + slippery

Usage Note

Only used with abstract nouns (concept, term, word, idea, notion, phrase). Never used for concrete objects or people in this sense. Distinguish from sense 1 (physical surfaces) and sense 2 (untrustworthy people) — if the subject is an abstract idea that resists clear definition, use this sense.

Common Mistakes

This maths problem is slippery.
The word 'justice' is a slippery term in legal philosophy.
Slippery in sense 3 applies to words and ideas whose meaning shifts, not to problems that are simply difficult to solve.
Idioms

slippery slope

idiom

A process or series of events that starts in a small, acceptable way but leads inevitably to serious, undesirable consequences.

Trang warned that cutting the arts budget was a slippery slope — soon libraries and community centres would lose funding too.

Some parents worry that letting teenagers stay out an extra hour is a slippery slope towards having no rules at all.

the/a slippery slope

idiom

A situation that starts small but leads to serious problems if not stopped.

Maya worried that skipping one class was a slippery slope.

Is borrowing money from friends a slippery slope to debt?

Word family

  • slip
    verbA2
  • slipperiness
    nounC1
  • slipperily
    adverbC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All four words describe surfaces that cause a loss of grip, but they differ in the cause and feel. Slippery is the broadest and most neutral — it covers any surface that makes you slide, whether from water, ice, oil, or polish. Slick specifically suggests a thin, wet film (oil on a road, water on glass) and carries a slightly more technical tone. Greasy implies a fatty or oily layer and is often used for kitchen surfaces, tools, or food residue rather than outdoor conditions. Icy is the most specific — it means covered in or made of ice, so it is restricted to cold-weather contexts. For example: 'The roads were slick after a light drizzle' (film of water), versus 'The kitchen floor was greasy after frying bacon' (oily), versus 'The driveway was icy after the temperature dropped below zero' (frozen). Slippery works in all three situations.

slippery ↗slick ↗greasy ↗icy ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • slippery when wet

Prepositions

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

Slippery comes from the Old English word slipor, which meant 'slippery' or 'slipping.' It is related to the verb slip (from Old English slippan, 'to escape, glide'). The figurative sense of a person being untrustworthy emerged in the late 1500s, and the meaning of an idea being hard to pin down appeared by the early 1600s. The idiom 'slippery slope' as a metaphor for a gradual descent into undesirable outcomes dates from the mid-1900s.