slick

Meaning

Adj

1. Slippery or smooth due to a covering of liquid; often used to describe appearances.
2. Sleek; smooth.
3. Appearing expensive or sophisticated.
4. Superficially convincing but actually untrustworthy.
5. (often, sarcastic) Clever, making an apparently hard task look easy.
6. (US) Extraordinarily great or special.

Noun

1. A covering of liquid, particularly oil.
2. (US, broadly, dated) 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.
3. Someone who is clever and untrustworthy.
4. A tool used to make something smooth or even.
5. A tire with a smooth surface instead of a tread pattern, often used in auto racing.
6. (US, slang) A helicopter.
7. 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.
8. (slang) A glossy magazine.
9. A wide paring chisel used in joinery.
10. (slang) In omegaverse fiction, the copious, lubricating bodily fluid produced by an omega in heat.
11. (slang) A silver coin that has been worn to the point its surface feels smooth to the touch.

Verb

To make slick.

Adv

Alternative form of sleek (“with ease and dexterity”).

Noun

Alternative form of schlich.

Synonyms

slippery

smooth

sleek

glossy

cunning

sly

crafty

silky

tricky

dexterous

viscous

glib

slipperiness

adroit

slip

great at

slick magazine

silklike

wily

sleek down

knavish

slither

tricksy

elusive

dodgy

evasive

slithery

slicker

dextrous

slick down

slickness

skilful

shrewd

silken

skillful

deft

pat

foxy

oily

guileful

handy

bright

satiny

smart

float

flirtatious

flip

ferryboat

crisp

beaked

Translations

glissant

rusé

schlau

alisar

astuto

glad

aalglatt

lucidare

🇵🇱

routiniert

Slick

glattweg

lisse

polieren

allisar

Pronounced as (IPA)

/slɪk/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: slicke

Inherited from Old English: slīc

Cognate with Dutch: sluik

Cognate with Dutch: sleek

Cognate with Old Norse: slíkr

Cognate with Old English: slician

In summary

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”).