adjective

• 1(of a surface or object) difficult to hold firmly or stand on because it is smooth, wet, or slimy.

  ‘slippery ice’

  More example sentences

  • ‘her hand was slippery with sweat’
  • ‘Loss of balance on a slippery surface, especially ice or snow, is also common.’
  • ‘But it was still difficult for the cars to stop on slippery surfaces when something unexpected occurred.’
  • ‘On slippery surfaces, a very smooth traction and skid control system will cut in to ensure that things never get out of hand.’
  • ‘A heavy shower before the game made for a slippery surface and much sliding and difficulty in gaining possession.’
  • ‘As it was, the two sides struggled to adapt to the slippery surface and the game progressed, strewn with errors.’
  • ‘Mr Clayton claimed that too little sand was used in the resin compound, so instead of giving extra grip, the surface became smooth and slippery.’
  • ‘Again McLean was involved when he latched on to Andy Smith's misplaced header and sent in a vicious shot which skidded goalward off the slippery surface.’
  • ‘The match, which was put into severe doubt the previous day with a covering of snow and slush on the pitch, inevitably turned out to be quite scrappy due to the slippery surface.’
  • ‘Wear low-heeled shoes with non-slip soles and check your house for slippery surfaces that might cause you to trip or fall.’
  • ‘Poor weather conditions and an extremely slippery surface greatly hindered the playing of good football.’
  • ‘Part of the work involved the application of a plastic lining which subsequently proved to be a safety risk due to its slippery surface.’
  • ‘It's unwise to charge up a hill at full speed but conserving momentum is crucial to avoid getting caught out by the slippery surface.’
  • ‘There are also gearbox modes for slippery surfaces or for faster gear changes.’
  • ‘Its purpose is to provide a smooth, almost slippery, surface for later burnishing, but the red and yellow boles also enrich the colour of the gilding.’
  • ‘The trapped bees try to escape from the flowers by climbing the sepals, but escape is made even more difficult by the slippery waxy sepal surface.’
  • ‘My tennis shoes slipped over the slippery surface of the rock.’
  • ‘On slippery surfaces, the car takes over and automatically controls steering torque to prevent a spin-out.’
  • ‘It creaked beneath his feet and he ignored the slippery surface.’
  • ‘These are for general driving and slippery surfaces on-road, plus three off road settings: mud, sand and rocks.’
  • ‘All that torque causes some problems on slippery surfaces.’

  Synonyms

  slithery, greasy, oily, icy, glassy, smooth, slick

  View synonyms

  1. 1.1(of a person) evasive and unpredictable; not to be relied on.
     ‘Martin's a slippery customer’
     More example sentences

     • ‘A policeman has told how he bravely apprehended a slippery customer.’
     • ‘Jolly and devious, she is an appealingly slippery figure.’
     • ‘Have I been taken in, or is she just a slippery customer?’
     • ‘The Right will see how political spin and slippery personalities can sell questionable character to the voters.’
     • ‘In this hour, a general talks strategy against a slippery enemy.’
     • ‘No slippery politician was going to give me the kind of straight talk I was looking for, but only politicians and platitudes were on offer.’
     • ‘Having interrogated endless politicians, business leaders and other slippery characters, he knows exactly how to keep control.’
     • ‘He's a slippery character whose public statements remind you of certain other politicians.’
     • ‘Father Jack, as we're now calling him, is on a moral crusade, after all the polling showed that everyone thinks he's too slippery.’
     • ‘They are a bunch of desperate slippery folks, and re-election and banishment is coming upon them soon.’
     • ‘He's being a slippery character who fails to show any sign of remorse or even responsibility for his work.’
     • ‘And a nice change from forceful journalists shouting at slippery politicians.’
     • ‘But you are still slippery when it comes to actually fixing that date to meet up.’
     • ‘But last night he proved he could also turn on the power in the latter stages after initially being frustrated by his slippery opponent.’
     • ‘These days it's impossible to avoid the plethora of slippery politicians all over our TV screens, PC monitors and radio airwaves.’
     • ‘It was much harder to tackle him down, partly because he was so slippery.’
     • ‘Only a fool would claim otherwise - a fool, or a slippery lawyer.’
     • ‘Then Richard had become an asset, someone she wanted to be able to move around, but he was slippery.’
     • ‘These money men are as practised in the art of the ‘spin’ as the most slippery politician.’
     • ‘This eternally slippery character then keeps cropping up throughout the story to pass judgment on pivotal events.’
     Synonyms

     evasive, unreliable, unpredictable, hard to pin down

     View synonyms
  2. 1.2(of a word or concept) elusive in meaning because changing according to one's point of view.
     ‘the word “intended” is a decidedly slippery one’
     More example sentences

     • ‘I firmly believe the answer is no, if one wants to retain any meaningful working definition of the slippery concept of consciousness.’
     • ‘Clarifying this slippery concept, however, suggests that the most important changes pointed to by postmodernism are political.’
     • ‘I was not concerned with the noise, or the ‘nuisance’ - a very slippery concept - but with safety.’
     • ‘All this may be true, but these are slippery words.’
     • ‘Party allegiance itself has become a more slippery concept, as political cross-dressing blurs the lines between the parties.’
     • ‘It's a nuanced world we live in, and responsibility is such a slippery concept.’
     • ‘But existential is a slippery word, in politics as well as philosophy.’
     • ‘Simplicity is a slippery concept, but the best technologies can be learned by looking at the input device, not by studying a manual.’
     • ‘The slippery concept of postmodernism is sometimes applied to all the above ideologies.’
     • ‘The fabricated nature of a dispute as a precondition for the admissibility of a referral is a slippery concept, not without dangerous pitfalls.’
     • ‘I have found the point, as I say, finely balanced. ‘Facility’ is a slippery word.’
     • ‘ART is a slippery, infinitely subjective concept, and maybe the hardest word to define, but plenty of people have given it a shot.’
     • ‘But all you are doing is demonstrating what an absolutely slippery concept tax avoidance is.’
     • ‘Police effectiveness is a notoriously slippery concept to define or measure.’
     • ‘In that context the election packages, dignified artificially by the term manifesto, were based on very slippery assumptions.’
     • ‘Governments of course always claim to be acting in the national interest, but it's a very slippery term.’
     • ‘Bias in the context of this case is a slippery term.’
     • ‘But the slippery term keeps expanding to encompass more and more groups.’
     • ‘Aristotle was a thoroughgoing ‘empiricist’ in two senses of that slippery term.’
     • ‘But ideas turn around, they are as slippery as eels, and it's easy to lose control of them.’