[syn: slippery, tricky]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Slippery \Slip"per*y\, a. [See Slipper, a.]
1. Having the quality opposite to adhesiveness; allowing or
causing anything to slip or move smoothly, rapidly, and
easily upon the surface; smooth; glib; as, oily substances
render things slippery.
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2. Not affording firm ground for confidence; as, a slippery
promise.
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The slippery tops of human state. --Cowley.
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3. Not easily held; liable or apt to slip away.
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The slippery god will try to loose his hold.
--Dryden.
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4. Liable to slip; not standing firm. --Shak.
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5. Unstable; changeable; mutable; uncertain; inconstant;
fickle. "The slippery state of kings." --Denham.
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6. Uncertain in effect. --L'Estrange.
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7. Wanton; unchaste; loose in morals. --Shak.
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Slippery elm. (Bot.)
(a) An American tree (Ulmus fulva) with a mucilagenous
and slightly aromatic inner bark which is sometimes
used medicinally; also, the inner bark itself.
(b) A malvaceous shrub (Fremontia Californica); -- so
called on the Pacific coast.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
slippery
adj 1: causing or tending to cause things to slip or slide;
"slippery sidewalks"; "a slippery bar of soap"; "the
streets are still slippy from the rain" [syn: slippery,
slippy] [ant: nonslippery]
2: not to be trusted; "how extraordinarily slippery a liar the
camera is"- James Agee [syn: slippery, tricky]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
186 Moby Thesaurus words for "slippery":
Machiavellian, Machiavellic, acute, adipose, ambidextrous, amoral,
arch, artful, astute, blubbery, buttery, butyraceous, cagey,
calculating, canny, changeable, chiseling, chrismal, chrismatory,
clever, collusive, conscienceless, corrupt, corrupted, covinous,
crafty, criminal, critical, crooked, cunning, cute, dangerous,
dark, deceitful, deep, deep-laid, delicate, designing, desultory,
devious, diplomatic, dishonest, dishonorable, disloyal, double,
double-dealing, doubtful, dubious, elusive, elusory, evasive,
faithless, false, falsehearted, fat, fatty, feline, felonious,
finagling, fishy, foxy, fraudulent, furtive, glassy, greased,
greasy, guileful, hazardous, icy, ill-got, ill-gotten, immoral,
inconstant, indirect, infirm, ingenious, insecure, insidious,
insubstantial, inventive, knowing, lardaceous, lardy, lubric,
lubricated, lubricious, malingering, mucoid, not kosher, oiled,
oily, oleaginous, oleic, on slippery ground, on thin ice, pawky,
perfidious, perilous, politic, precarious, provisional,
questionable, ready, reptilian, resourceful, rich, risky, rotten,
scheming, sebaceous, serpentine, shady, shaky, shameless, sharp,
shifting, shifty, shirking, shrewd, sinister, sleek, slick,
sliddery, slimy, slipper, slippy, slithery, sly, smooth, snaky,
sneaky, soaped, soapy, sophistical, stealthy, strategic, subtile,
subtle, suety, supple, surreptitious, suspicious, tactical,
tallowy, temporary, tentative, ticklish, touch-and-go, touchy,
treacherous, trickish, tricksy, tricky, two-faced, uncertain,
unconscienced, unconscientious, unconscionable, unctuous,
undependable, underhand, underhanded, unethical, unfaithworthy,
unguent, unguentary, unguentous, unprincipled, unreliable,
unsavory, unscrupulous, unsolid, unsound, unstable, unsteadfast,
unsteady, unstraightforward, unsubstantial, unsure, untrustworthy,
variable, vulpine, wary, wily, without remorse, without shame