slick
Plural: slicks
Noun
- a slippery smoothness
- "he could feel the slickness of the tiller"
- a magazine printed on good quality paper
- a film of oil or garbage floating on top of water
- a trowel used to make a surface slick
- A covering of liquid, particularly oil.
- A rapidly-expanding ring of dark water, resembling an oil slick, around the site of a large underwater explosion at shallow depth, marking the progress through the water of the shock wave generated by the explosion.
- Someone who is clever and untrustworthy.
- A tool used to make something smooth or even.
- A tire with a smooth surface instead of a tread pattern, often used in auto racing.
- A helicopter.
- A camera-ready image to be used by a printer. The "slick" is photographed to produce a negative image which is then used to burn a positive offset plate or other printing device.
- A glossy magazine.
- A wide paring chisel used in joinery.
- In omegaverse fiction, the copious, lubricating bodily fluid produced by an omega in heat.
- A silver coin that has been worn to the point it's surface feels smooth to the touch.
- Alternative form of schlich.
Verb
Verb Forms: slicked, slicking, slicks
- To make something smooth or glossy; to make neat.
- make slick or smooth
- give a smooth and glossy appearance
- "slick one's hair"
- To make slick.
Adjective Satellite
- made slick by e.g. ice or grease
- "sidewalks slick with ice"
- "roads are slickest when rain has just started and hasn't had time to wash away the oil"
- having only superficial plausibility
- "a slick commercial"
- having a smooth, gleaming surface reflecting light
- "slick seals and otters"
- marked by skill in deception
- "a slick evasive answer"
Adj
- Slippery or smooth due to a covering of liquid; often used to describe appearances.
- Sleek; smooth.
- Appearing expensive or sophisticated.
- Superficially convincing but actually untrustworthy.
- Clever, making an apparently hard task look easy.
- Extraordinarily great or special.
Adv
- Alternative form of sleek (“with ease and dexterity”).
Adjective
- Smooth and slippery; cleverly tricky or resourceful.
Examples
- Careful in turn three — there's an oil slick on the road.
- He tried to SLICK his letters into a bingo, but the vowels were uncooperative.
- His large round head was shaved slick.
- His SLICK strategy involved setting up multiple hooks for future plays.
- Our new process for extracting needles from haystacks is extremely slick.
- That is one slick bicycle: it has all sorts of features!
- That new sales rep is slick. Be sure to read the fine print before you buy anything.
- That was a slick move, locking your keys in the car.
- The oil slick has now spread to cover the entire bay, critically endangering the sea life.
- The project was delayed because the slick had not been delivered to the printer.
- The surface had been slicked.
- The top coating of lacquer gives this finish a slick look.
- They read all kinds of slick magazines.
- This rain is making the roads slick.
- You'll go much faster if you put on slicks.
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English slicke, slike, slyke, from Old English slīc (“sleek, smooth; crafty, cunning, slick”), from Proto-Germanic *slīkaz (“sleek, smooth”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleyg-, *sleyǵ- (“to glide, smooth, spread”).
Akin to Dutch sluik, dialectal Dutch sleek (“even, smooth”), Old Norse slíkr (“sleek, smooth”), Old English slician (“to make sleek, smooth, or glossy”).
Synonyms
crafty, cunning, dodgy, foxy, glib, glossy, guileful, knavish, pat, satiny, silken, silklike, silky, sleek, sleek down, slick down, slick magazine, slickness, slip, slipperiness, sly, tricksy, tricky, wily, slick tire, slick tyre
Scrabble Score: 11
slick: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordslick: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
slick: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary