Synonyms for slippery
- adjective
Most common
slick icy slimy slithery treacherous untrustworthy lubricated elusory
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Slippy — of a surface, having low friction, often due to being covered in a non-viscous liquid, and therefore hard to…
slippy UK IE, slick, slimy, slithery, wet, icy, smooth, evasive, greasy, glib, sneaky, shifty, glassy, lubricious, lubricous, teflonish, oily, sly, deceitful
2. Untrustworthy — unstable; changeable; inconstant
untrustworthy, treacherous, tricky, uncertain, perilous, unstable, shaky, unsteady, deceptive, unprincipled, dishonest, false, perfidious, changeable, inconstant, mutable, variable, insecure, faithless, precarious, unsafe, fickle
Other
elusive, lubricated, elusory, lubric dated, sliddery dated
Definitions
- adj. 1
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.
- adj. 2
Unstable; changeable; inconstant.
Related words
- Word family
- slipperiness slip
- Phrases
- slippery elm slippery dip slippery slide slippery jack slippery slope
- Is a kind of
- smooth wet
Example sentences
- slick The statues in the museum courtyard were slick with rain.
- icy It was mad of him to try to swim in the icy water.
- slimy The creature extended its slimy hands to Damiano.
- treacherous The weather can be very treacherous at this altitude.
- untrustworthy You can believe him. He's not an untrustworthy person.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| slippery | rising | |
| slick | rising | |
| icy | rising | |
| slimy | rising | |
| slithery | rising | |
| treacherous | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 3 letters
- wet1, icy2, sly1
- 4 letters
- oily2, glib1
- 5 letters
- false1, slick1, shaky2, slimy2
- 6 letters
- smooth1, tricky2, unsafe2, greasy2, sneaky2, fickle2, shifty2, glassy2, slippy, lubric
- 7 letters
- elusive3, evasive3, mutable3, elusory
- 8 letters
- variable4, unstable3, insecure3, perilous3, unsteady3, slithery, sliddery
- 9 letters
- uncertain3, dishonest3, deceptive3, deceitful3, faithless, lubricous, teflonish
- 10 letters
- precarious4, changeable3, lubricated4, perfidious, inconstant, lubricious3
- 11 letters
- treacherous3
- 12 letters
- unprincipled4
- 13 letters
- untrustworthy4
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (icy2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- glissant
- Italiano
- scivoloso
- Español
- resbaladizo