slippery

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: slip=per=y
• COUNT in NET: 3 in 3 verses (in OT : 3 in 3 verses)

CIDE DICTIONARY

slippery, a. [See Slipper, a.].

•  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.  [1913 Webster]
•  Not affording firm ground for confidence; as, a slippery promise.  [1913 Webster]

  "The slippery tops of human state."  [1913 Webster]
•  Not easily held; liable or apt to slip away.  [1913 Webster]

  "The slippery god will try to loose his hold."  [1913 Webster]
•  Liable to slip; not standing firm.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
•  Unstable; changeable; mutable; uncertain; inconstant; fickle.  Denham.  [1913 Webster]
•  Uncertain in effect.  L'Estrange.  [1913 Webster]
•  Wanton; unchaste; loose in morals.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

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.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

slippery, adj.
1 difficult to hold firmly because of smoothness, wetness, sliminess, or elusive motion.
2 (of a surface) difficult to stand on, causing slips by its smoothness or muddiness.
3 unreliable, unscrupulous, shifty.
4 (of a subject) requiring tactful handling.

Idiom

slippery elm
1 the N. American red elm, Ulmus fulva.
2 the medicinal inner bark of this. slippery slope a course leading to disaster.

Derivative

slipperily adv. slipperiness n.

Etymology

prob. coined by Coverdale (1535) after Luther's schlipfferig, MHG slipferig f. slipfern, slipfen f. Gmc: partly f. slipper slippery (now dial.) f. OE slipor f. Gmc

THESAURUS

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

ROGET THESAURUS

slippery

Danger

N danger, peril, insecurity, jeopardy, risk, hazard, venture, precariousness, slipperiness, instability, defenselessness, exposure, vulnerability, vulnerable point, heel of Achilles, forlorn hope, leap in the dark, road to ruin, faciles descensus Averni, hairbreadth escape, cause for alarm, source of danger, rock ahead, breakers ahead, storm brewing, clouds in the horizon, clouds gathering, warning, alarm, apprehension, in danger, endangered, fraught with danger, dangerous, hazardous, perilous, parlous, periculous, unsafe, unprotected &c (safe, protect), insecure, untrustworthy, built upon, sand, on a sandy basis, wildcat, defenseless, fenceless, guardless, harborless, unshielded, vulnerable, expugnable, exposed, open to, aux abois, at bay, on the wrong side of the wall, on a lee shore, on the rocks, at stake, in question, precarious, critical, ticklish, slippery, slippy, hanging by a thread, with a halter round one's neck, between the hammer and the anvil, between Scylla and Charybdis, between a rock and a hard place, between the devil and the deep blue sea, between two fires, on the edge of a precipice, on the brink of a precipice, on the verge of a precipice, on the edge of a volcano, in the lion's den, on slippery ground, under fire, not out of the wood, unwarned, unadmonished, unadvised, unprepared, off one's guard, tottering, unstable, unsteady, shaky, top-heavy, tumbledown, ramshackle, crumbling, waterlogged, helpless, guideless, in a bad way, reduced to the last extremity, at the last extremity, trembling in the balance, nodding to its fall, threatening, ominous, illomened, alarming, explosive, adventurous, incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim, nam tua res agitur paries dum proximus ardet.

Facility

N facility, ease, easiness, capability, feasibility, flexibility, pliancy, smoothness, plain sailing, smooth sailing, straight sailing, mere child's play, holiday task, cinch, smooth water, fair wind, smooth royal road, clear coast, clear stage, tabula rasa, full play, disencumbrance, disentanglement, deoppilation, permission, simplicity, lack of complication, easy, facile, feasible, easily managed, easily accomplished, within reach, accessible, easy of access, for the million, open to, manageable, wieldy, towardly, tractable, submissive, yielding, ductile, suant, pliant, glib, slippery, smooth, on friction wheels, on velvet, unembarrassed, disburdened, unburdened, disencumbered, unencumbered, disembarrassed, exonerated, unloaded, unobstructed, untrammeled, unrestrained, at ease, light, at home with, quite at home, in one's element, in smooth water, skillful, accustomed, easily, readily, smoothly, swimmingly, on easy terms, single-handed, touch and go.

Transientness

N transience, transientness, evanescence, impermanence, fugacity, caducity, mortality, span, nine days' wonder, bubble, Mayfly, spurt, flash in the pan, temporary arrangement, interregnum, velocity, suddenness, changeableness, transient, transient boarder, transient guest, transient, transitory, transitive, passing, evanescent, fleeting, cursory, short-lived, ephemeral, flying, fugacious, fugitive, shifting, slippery, spasmodic, instantaneous, momentaneous, temporal, temporary, provisional, provisory, deciduous, perishable, mortal, precarious, unstable, insecure, impermanent, brief, quick, brisk, extemporaneous, summary, pressed for time, sudden, momentary, temporarily, pro tempore, for the moment, for a time, awhile, en passant, in transitu, in a short time, soon, briefly, at short notice, on the point of, on the eve of, in articulo, between cup and lip, one's days are numbered, the time is up, here today and gone tomorrow, non semper erit aestas, eheu! fugaces labuntur anni, sic transit gloria mundi, a schoolboy's tale, the wonder of the hour!, dum loquimur fugerit invidia aetas, fugit hora, all that is transitory is but an illusion.

Smoothness

N smoothness, polish, gloss, lubricity, lubrication, down, velvet, velure, silk, satin, velveteen, velour, velours, velumen, glass, ice, slide, bowling green, asphalt, wood pavement, flagstone, flags, roller, steam roller, lawn roller, rolling pin, rolling mill, sand paper, emery paper, emery cloth, sander, flat iron, sad iron, burnisher, turpentine and beeswax, polish, shoe polish, lapidary, lapidary, lapidarian, smooth, polished, leiodermatous, slick, velutinous, even, level, plane, sleek, glossy, silken, silky, lanate, downy, velvety, glabrous, slippery, glassy, lubricous, oily, soft, unwrinkled, smooth as glass, smooth as ice, smooth as monumental alabaster, smooth as velvet, smooth as oil, slippery as an eel, woolly, smooth as silk, slippery as coonshit on a pump handle, slippery as a greased pig.

Improbity

N improbity, dishonesty, dishonor, deviation from rectitude, disgrace, fraud, lying, bad faith, Punic faith, mala fides, Punica fides, infidelity, faithlessness, Judas kiss, betrayal, breach of promise, breach of trust, breach of faith, prodition, disloyalty, treason, high treason, apostasy, nonobservance, shabbiness, villainy, villany, baseness, abjection, debasement, turpitude, moral turpitude, laxity, trimming, shuffling, perfidy, perfidiousness, treachery, double dealing, unfairness, knavery, roguery, rascality, foul play, jobbing, jobbery, graft, bribery, venality, nepotism, corruption, job, shuffle, fishy transaction, barratry, sharp practice, heads I win tails you lose, mouth honor, dishonest, dishonorable, unconscientious, unscrupulous, fraudulent, knavish, disgraceful, wicked, false-hearted, disingenuous, unfair, one-sided, double, double- hearted, double-tongued, double-faced, timeserving, crooked, tortuous, insidious, Machiavelian, dark, slippery, fishy, perfidious, treacherous, perjured, infamous, arrant, foul, base, vile, ignominious, blackguard, contemptible, unrespectable, abject, mean, shabby, little, paltry, dirty, scurvy, scabby, sneaking, groveling, scrubby, rascally, pettifogging, beneath one, low-minded, low-thoughted, base-minded, undignified, indign, unbecoming, unbeseeming, unbefitting, derogatory, degrading, infra dignitatem, beneath one's dignity, ungentlemanly, ungentlemanlike, unknightly, unchivalric, unmanly, unhandsome, recreant, inglorious, corrupt, venal, debased, mongrel, faithless, of bad faith, false, unfaithful, disloyal, untrustworthy, trustless, trothless, lost to shame, dead to honor, barratrous, dishonestly, mala fide, like a thief in the night, by crooked paths, Int, O tempora!, O mores!, corruptissima respublica plurimae leges.

Unctuousness

N unctuousness, unctuosity, lubricity, ointment, anointment, lubrication, unctuous, oily, oleaginous, adipose, sebaceous, unguinous, fat, fatty, greasy, waxy, butyraceous, soapy, saponaceous, pinguid, lardaceous, slippery.

Uncertainty

N uncertainty, incertitude, doubt, doubtfulness, dubiety, dubitation, dubitancy, dubitousness, hesitation, suspense, perplexity, embarrassment, dilemma, bewilderment, timidity, vacillation, diaporesis, indetermination, vagueness, haze, fog, obscurity, ambiguity, contingency, dependence, dependency, double contingency, possibility upon a possibility, open question, onus probandi, blind bargain, pig in a poke, leap in the dark, something or other, needle in a haystack, needle in a bottle of hay, roving commission, precariousness, fallibility, uncertain, casual, random, changeable, doubtful, dubious, indecisive, unsettled, undecided, undetermined, in suspense, open to discussion, controvertible, in question, vague, indeterminate, indefinite, ambiguous, equivocal, undefined, undefinable, confused, mystic, oracular, dazed, perplexing, enigmatic, paradoxical, apocryphal, problematical, hypothetical, experimental, unpredictable, unforeseeable (unknowable), fallible, questionable, precarious, slippery, ticklish, debatable, disputable, unreliable, untrustworthy, contingent, contingent on, dependent on, subject to, dependent on circumstances, occasional, provisional, unauthentic, unauthenticated, unauthoritative, unascertained, unconfirmed, undemonstrated, untold, uncounted, in a state of uncertainty, in a cloud, in a maze, bushed, off the track, ignorant, afraid to say, out of one's reckoning, astray, adrift, at sea, at fault, at a loss, at one's wit's end, at a nonplus, puzzled, lost, abroad, d_esorient_e, distracted, distraught, pendente lite, sub spe rati, Heaven knows, who can tell? who shall decide when doctors disagr.