slick

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪk

Adjective

slick (comparative slicker, superlative slickest)

1. Slippery due to a covering of liquid; often used to describe appearances.

   This rain is making the roads slick.

   The top coating of lacquer gives this finish a slick look.

2. Appearing expensive or sophisticated.

   They read all kinds of slick magazines.

3. Superficially convincing but actually untrustworthy.

   That new sales rep is slick. Be sure to read the fine print before you buy anything.

4. Clever, making an apparently hard task easy; often used sarcastically.

   Our new process for extracting needles from haystacks is extremely slick.

   That was a slick move, locking your keys in the car.

5. (US, West Coast slang) Extraordinarily great or special.

   That is one slick bicycle: it has all sorts of features!

6. sleek; smooth
   • Chapman

     Both slick and dainty.

Translations

Slippery due to a covering of liquid

• Finnish: liukas (fi)
• French: glissant (fr)
• German: glitschig (de)
• Italian: sdrucciolevole (it)

• Latvian: slidens (lv)
• Russian: скользкий (ru) (skolʹzkij)
• Spanish: resbaladizo (es)
• Turkish: kaygan (tr)

Appearing expensive or sophisticated

• German: gekonnt (de)

• Turkish: ustaca (tr)

Superficially convincing but actually untrustworthy

• Finnish: lipevä (fi)
• German: schlau (de)

• Italian: falso (it)
• Turkish: kurnazca (tr)

Clever, making an apparently hard task easy

• Finnish: näppärä (fi), taitava (fi)
• Russian: ловкий (ru) (lovkij), хитрый (ru) (xitryj), умный (ru) (umnyj)

• Spanish: astuto (es) m
• Turkish: akıllıca (tr)

Extraordinarily great or special

• German: raffiniert (de), schlau (de)

• Turkish: kurnazca (tr)

Noun

slick (plural slicks)

1. A covering of liquid, particularly oil.

   Careful in turn three — there's an oil slick on the road.

   The oil slick has now spread to cover the entire bay, critically endangering the sea life.

2. (sports, automotive) A tire with a smooth surface instead of a tread pattern, often used in auto racing.

   You'll go much faster if you put on slicks.

3. (US, military slang) A helicopter.
4. (printing) 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.

   The project was delayed because the slick had not been delivered to the printer.

5. A wide paring chisel used in joinery.

Synonyms

• (tyre): slick tire, slick tyre

Translations

A covering of liquid, particularly oil

• Dutch: slijk (nl) n
• Finnish: öljyläikkä (fi), öljylautta (fi), läikkä (fi), lautta (fi)
• French: please add this translation if you can
• German: please add this translation if you can

• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: разлив (ru) (razliv) m, пятно (ru) (pjatno) n, плёнка (ru) (pljónka) f
• Spanish: marea negra (es) f

A tire with a smooth surface instead of a tread pattern

• Finnish: sileä rengas, sliksi (fi)
• Italian: slick (it) m

• Russian: слик (ru) (slik) m

Verb

slick (third-person singular simple present slicks, present participle slicking, simple past and past participle slicked)

1. To make slick

   The surface had been slicked.

   • 2009 January 14, Melissa Clark, “Green, Gold and Pink: Fast, Easy and Delicious”, New York Times:

     So I slicked the broccoli with oil and seasonings and set it to roast.

Derived terms

• slicker
• slicken
• slick back

Anagrams

• licks