Oxford Thesaurus - An A-Z Dictionary Of Synonyms
.pdfslabber: The wolf opened its slavering jaws.
--n. 2 drool, saliva, drivel, dribble, spit, spittle, Dialect slabber: The slaver formed on his lips as he raged on. 3 nonsense, drivel, rubbish, twaddle, piffle: The slaver spewed forth by the critics set her teeth on edge.
slaverý n. 1 slave ship, slave-trader: Conditions were so bad aboard the slavers that many of the poor souls died before reaching their destination. 2 blackbirder, slave-trader; White slaver,
pimp, panderer: He was ashamed that his grandfather had been a South Sea slaver.
slavery n. 1 enslavement, bondage, thraldom, thrall, enthralment, servitude, serfdom, vassalage, yoke; subjugation, captivity,
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Historical US peculiar institution: All of those ancient |
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cultures that we venerate practised slavery. 2 slave-trade, |
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blackbirding: No one ever mentions that the family fortune had |
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been made from slavery. 3 toil, moil, drudgery, travail, grind, |
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strain, (hard) labour: She remembered the years of slavery she |
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had spent at the kitchen sink. |
sleazy |
adj. 1 unsubstantial or insubstantial, flimsy, slight, shabby, |
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poor, gimcrack, jerry-built, tawdry, cheap, tatty, ramshackle, |
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rickety, slipshod, Colloq US chintzy: Her garish dress was made |
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from some sleazy synthetic material. 2 disreputable, low-class, |
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low-grade, squalid, dirty, base, seedy, sordid, contemptible, |
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trashy, run-down, mean, cheap, Colloq crummy, slummy, Slang |
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crappy, cheesy: He was lying low in a sleazy hotel while the |
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police searched for him. |
sleek |
adj. 1 smooth, slick, velvety, lustrous, shiny, shining, |
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glossy, silky, silken: The seals' sleek fur glistened in the |
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sunlight. 2 graceful, trim, streamlined: For her birthday |
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Edmund gave her a sleek convertible. 3 suave, unctuous, slimy, |
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fawning, oily, specious, hypocritical, Chiefly Brit smarmy: His |
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explanations sounded plausible enough, but we soon found out |
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what a sleek rogue he really was. |
sleep |
v. 1 doze, (take a) nap, catnap, rest, repose, slumber, drowse, |
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drop or nod off, be in the land of Nod, be in the arms of |
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Morpheus, snore, Colloq snooze, saw wood, catch or log a few |
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zees (Z's), take or have a zizz, catch forty winks: I was so |
scallop, escalope, scaloppine (pl. of scaloppina) or scaloppini (pl.): May I have another slice of ham? 2 portion, piece, part, wedge, share, sliver, helping: He wants to make certain he gets his slice of the pie. 3 spatula; slicer: The Cabots gave us a silver fish slice for a wedding present.
--v. 4 cut, carve, divide: They watched their mother slicing bread for sandwiches.
slick adj. 1 smooth, sleek, glossy, silky, silken, shiny, shining, glassy, slippery: His slick hair looked as if it had been greased. 2 smooth, urbane, suave, smooth-spoken, glib, smug,
plausible; sycophantic, unctuous, Colloq smarmy: Thomas was a slick operator and managed to worm his way into a position of power. 3 smooth, clever, skilful, adroit, dexterous,
professional, ingenious, imaginative, inventive, creative, Colloq neat: The performance was slick and well-rehearsed. 4 superficial, shallow, meretricious, specious, glib: They have made a lot of money publishing slick magazines for the yuppy market.
--v. 5 Often, slick down. smooth, plaster down, grease, oil: He likes his hair slicked down to look like Valentino's.
slicker n. 1 confidence man or woman, cheat, swindler, mountebank, Colloq con man, city slicker: That slicker she met in Paris tricked Harriet out of a lot of money before he disappeared. 2 oilskin (raincoat): Best wear your slicker if you're going out
in this storm, James.
slide v. 1 glide, slip; coast, skim, glissade, skate, plane, skid, toboggan, slither: The drawer slid smoothly out on its runners. Terry came sliding down the icy hill, arms and legs flailing. 2 creep, steal, slip, slink, move: My contact slid into the seat beside me and slipped me a note. 3 decline, decrease, drop, fall: Shares slid to an all-time low on this morning's market.
4 let slide. forget, ignore, neglect, gloss or pass over, pay no heed or mind (to): When Mr Bartlett borrowed my lawnmower, I let the matter slide till he began to think of it as his own,
and offered to lend it to me!
--n. 5 landslide, earth-slip, avalanche, mud-slide: A dozen houses were destroyed in the slides caused by the recent
torrential rains.
slight adj. 1 small, little, minor, negligible, unlikely,
insignificant, inconsequential: There is always a slight chance that you might be wrong, you know. 2 trifling, tiny, slender, minute, infinitesimal; trace, perceptible: He didn't attach the slightest importance to the rumours that were going round. You'd best wash it again, as there is still a slight odour of garlic.
3 small, short, petite, thin, slim, slender, delicate,
diminutive, tiny, miniature, bantam, wee, pocket, pocket-sized, US vest-pocket, Colloq pint-sized: Charlotte's slight build seems totally unaffected by the amount she eats. 4 insubstantial or unsubstantial, weak, feeble, delicate, dainty, frail,
unstable, fragile, flimsy, lightly made or built, precarious, inadequate, rickety, insecure: This table is too slight to support the computer and the printer. His arguments were far too slight to carry conviction.
--v. 5 disregard, ignore, disdain, scorn, snub, rebuff, cut, disrespect, cold-shoulder: He thought she had slighted him deliberately at the dance. 6 insult, offend, affront, mortify, diminish, minimize, depreciate, disparage: Siobhan felt slighted by Harry's inattention.
--n. 7 insult, affront, slur, indignity, outrage, offence, disrespect: It is hard to understand why she tolerates his persistent slights. 8 inattention, neglect, disregard, indifference, snub, cold shoulder, coldness, ill-treatment: Perhaps she misinterprets his obsessive occupation in his work as a slight to her.
slightly adv. a little, somewhat, to a certain or slight or minor extent or degree or measure, marginally: Yes, I do feel slightly better, thank you.
slim |
adj. 1 See slender, 1, above. 2 See slender, 2, 3, above. |
--v. 3 reduce, lose or shed weight, diet, Chiefly US slenderize: I really must slim if I am to fit into my summer clothes.
slimy adj. 1 oozy, slippery, mucky, squashy, squishy, viscous, sticky, gluey, mucilaginous, uliginous, glutinous, mucous,
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clammy, mushy, US squushy or squooshy, Colloq gooey, gunky, US |
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gloppy: He had cleverly buried the bag of diamonds in a mass of |
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slimy waste where no one would want to look. 2 slippery, |
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unctuous, obsequious, sycophantic, toadying, servile, creeping, |
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grovelling, abject, Colloq smarmy: I don't mind his trying to |
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sell me insurance, but why does he have to be so slimy about it? |
sling |
v. 1 toss, throw, cast, propel, hurl, shy, fling, fire, shoot, |
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pitch, let fly, launch, heave, lob, Colloq chuck: He slung his |
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briefcase onto the desk and flopped into a chair. |
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--n. 2 slingshot, catapult, trebuchet or trebucket: It is said |
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that David slew Goliath with a stone from his sling. 3 support, |
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strap, band; belt: The doctor ordered him to keep his sprained |
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arm in a sling for a few days. The military rifles are supplied |
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with leather slings. |
slink |
v. sneak, creep, steal, prowl, skulk: The dog slunk out of the |
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room with its tail between its legs. |
slip° |
v. 1 slide, skid, glide, slither: Waxing the runners helps the |
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sleigh slip along more easily. 2 stumble, lose one's footing or |
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balance, miss one's footing, trip; fall, tumble: Mother slipped |
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on the ice but luckily didn't fall down. 3 Often, slip up. err, |
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blunder, make a mistake, miscalculate, go wrong, botch (up), |
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Slang screw up: He slipped up again by failing to give you your |
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telephone messages. 4 let slip. reveal, divulge, blurt out, |
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leak, let out, disclose, expose, Colloq come out with, blab: He |
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accidentally let slip the news that you were back in town. 5 |
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slip away or by. pass, elapse, vanish, go by: The hours just |
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slipped away when I was with Irena. 6 slip away or off or out. |
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escape, disappear, leave, vanish, steal, go or run away or off |
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or out, break away, get away, give (someone) the slip; sneak |
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away or off or out: After the speech, he slipped away before we |
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could interview him. 7 slip in. enter, get in, sneak in; put |
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in: A field mouse slipped in past the wire netting. I managed |
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to slip in my suggestion before the meeting was adjourned. |
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--n. 8 blunder, error, mistake, fault, oversight, slip of the |
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tongue or pen, inadvertence, indiscretion, impropriety, |
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transgression, peccadillo, faux pas, Colloq slip-up, Chiefly US |
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blooper, Slang Brit boob, bloomer: She made so many slips in |
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the letter that she had to retype it. |
slipý n. 1 piece, scrap, strip, sliver; paper, note, chit, permit, permission, pass, document: I'll put my phone number on this slip of paper. To go on the outing, each child will have to bring in a slip signed by a parent. 2 shoot, scion, cutting, sprig, twig, sprout, runner, offshoot: After the slip is inserted, the branch must be bandaged up firmly.
slippery adj. 1 slick, sleek, slimy, icy, glassy, smooth, greasy, oily, lubricated, Colloq skiddy: Be careful! Those stairs can be slippery when they're wet. 2 evasive, devious, shifty, unreliable, undependable, questionable, untrustworthy, dishonest, treacherous, disloyal, perfidious, slick, crafty,
sly, foxy, cunning, tricky, sneaky, false, reptilian, faithless, Colloq shady: I have dealt with some very slippery characters over the years, but this one is downright evil.
slipshod adj. careless, slovenly, slapdash, haphazard, messy, untidy, disorganized, lax, unorganized, Colloq sloppy: We refused to pay the bill because of the slipshod way they did the repairs.
slit v. 1 split, cut, slash, gash, knife, slice: The bark of the log is first slit OBopen, then carefully peeled back.
--n. 2 split, cut, gash, incision, fissure, groove, slash, cleft, aperture, opening: Off-stage, the rest of the actors were watching the audience through a slit in the curtain.
slither v. slide, worm, snake, slip, slink, glide, skitter, creep, crawl: After regarding me for a moment, the cobra turned and slithered away.
sliver n. fragment, piece, shard, shred, splinter, slip, shaving, paring, flake, chip, bit, scrap, snippet, snip: Two weeks later, we were still finding tiny slivers of glass from the broken vase.
slob |
n. oaf, boor, pig, lout, churl, yahoo, Slang Brit yob, yobbo, |
Chiefly US galoot or galloot, Slobbovian: He was a complete |
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slob - he never tidied his room, and hardly ever washed. |
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slogan |
n. war cry, battle-cry, rallying cry, catchword, watchword; |
motto: The magazine's slogan was 'If you love words, you'll
love Word '.
slope v. 1 incline, decline, ascend, descend, rise, fall, dip, sink, drop (off), angle, slant, pitch, tilt, tip: The lawn slopes downwards from the house, then upwards towards that grove of trees.
--n. 2 incline, decline, ascent, descent, acclivity, declivity, rise, fall, ramp, dip, sink, drop, angle, slant, pitch, tilt, rake, tip, camber, cant, grade, bevel, hill, bank, mount,
gradient, US grade, upgrade, downgrade: Sheep can be seen grazing on the grassy slopes.
sloppy adj. 1 messy, dirty, slovenly, careless, slipshod, untidy, disordered, disorderly; draggle-tailed, bedraggled, dishevelled,
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unkempt, dowdy, frumpish, shabby, scruffy, Colloq US grungy: |
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She is certainly a sloppy housekeeper. John's teacher complained |
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about his sloppy work. 2 wet, slushy, watery, soggy, soppy, |
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sopping, sodden, sloshy, muddy, rainy: The roads were sloppy |
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after all the rain. You're lucky you don't have to go out in |
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this sloppy weather. 3 sentimental, gushy, gushing, mawkish, |
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maudlin, mushy, over-emotional, Colloq slushy, Brit wet, soppy: |
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She starts to cry whenever she watches a sloppy film on TV. |
slot |
n. 1 groove, fissure, notch, slit, opening, hollow, depression, |
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channel, sulcus: Each of these pieces fits into its own slot. |
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Drop a coin in the slot and watch what happens. 2 opening, |
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position, vacancy, job, place, assignment, niche, space, spot, |
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pigeon-hole: We filled that slot in the sales department. They |
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scheduled the new programme into the half-hour slot after the |
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six o'clock news. |
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--v. 3 groove, fissure, notch, slit, hollow out: We slotted |
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the stanchions to accommodate the shelf brackets. 4 assign, |
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schedule, place, position, pigeon-hole, fit: Can we slot this |
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interview into the documentary on China? |
sloth |
n. idleness, laziness, indolence, slothfulness, inertia, |
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apathy, indifference, accidie, torpor, faineance, pococurantism, |
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torpidity, sluggishness, languor, languidness, lethargy, phlegm, |
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Rare hebetude: The maharajahs lived a life of sloth and luxury |
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at the expense of their poverty-stricken subjects. |
slothful adj. idle, lazy, indolent, apathetic, indifferent, torpid, inert, pococurante, slack, lax, shiftless, fain‚ant, inactive, do-nothing, sluggish, sluggard(ly), slow, laggard, languorous, languid, lethargic, lackadaisical, phlegmatic, hebetudinous:
One cannot pursue a slothful attitude and expect to get anywhere in life.
slouch v. 1 droop, sag, stoop, loll, slump, hunch: Sit up straight and stop slouching.
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--n. 2 stoop, sag, droop, slump, hunch: He seems to have |
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developed a slouch from the burden of his responsibilities. 3 |
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Usually, no slouch. sloven, loafer, sluggard, laggard, loafer, |
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idler, malingerer, lazybones: Nellie is certainly no slouch |
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when it comes to exercising to keep fit. |
slow |
adj. 1 lagging, laggard, dawdling, sluggish, sluggard(ly), |
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slow-moving, leaden, ponderous, unhurried, plodding, snail-like, |
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tortoise-like, torpid, leaden-footed, creeping, crawling; |
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deliberate, slow-paced, leisurely, gradual, easy, relaxed, lax, |
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lackadaisical, lazy, US lallygagging or lollygagging: They |
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walked at a slow pace back to the house. Philip has become a |
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little slower in his old age. 2 gradual, progressive, moderate, |
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perceptible, almost imperceptible, measurable: The church |
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elders have noted a slow decline in moral standards. 3 |
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unhurried, slow-moving, slow-paced: The slow funeral cortege |
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crept through the streets. 4 behindhand, unpunctual: I missed |
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the train because my watch is five minutes slow. 5 late, tardy, |
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behindhand, dilatory, delayed, unpunctual: You were so slow in |
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getting here that everyone has gone. 6 slack, inactive, quiet, |
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sluggish, unproductive: Business is always a bit slow after the |
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holidays. 7 dense, dull, slow-witted, dull-witted, obtuse, |
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backward, bovine, dim, dim-witted, stupid, unresponsive, |
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blockish, cloddish, unintelligent, doltish, simple, stolid, |
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unimaginative, Boeotian, Colloq slow on the uptake, thick, dumb: |
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I'm afraid I'm a bit slow when it comes to particle physics. 8 |
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conservative, unprogressive, old-fashioned, out of date, |
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backward, old-fogyish or old-fogeyish, behind the times, Colloq |
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square, not with it, past it, US out of it: The council has |
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been rather slow in realizing the needs of the community. 9 |
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boring, dull, tiresome, ennuyant, tedious, dead, sleepy, |
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somnolent, torpid, soporific, wearisome, dry-as-dust, |
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uninteresting, monotonous, tame, uneventful, humdrum, Colloq |
ho-hum, dead, Brit dead-and-alive: This town becomes really slow in the autumn, till the tourists reappear in the spring. 10 reluctant, not quick, unwilling, hesitant, disinclined, averse, loath or loth, indisposed: Even when provoked, Cassie tends to be slow to anger.
--adv. 11 slowly, unhurriedly, cautiously, carefully, circumspectly: He failed his test because he drove too slow. 12 behindhand, tardily, late, unpunctually: All the trains seem to be running a bit slow tonight. 13 slowly, easy, leisurely, easily: They told him to take things slower or he'd have another heart attack.
--v. 14 Often, slow down or up. slack or slacken off, reduce speed, hold back, put on the brakes, take it easy: You'd better slow down before you come to Deadman's Hill. 15 relax, take it easy, Colloq ease up: The doctor suggested that at my age I ought to slow down a little.
sludge n. muck, mire, ooze, mud, slime, dregs, silt, residue, precipitate, Colloq goo: The mechanic said that there was a lot of sludge in the engine.
sluggishness
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n. sloth, laziness, slothfulness, languor, lassitude, lethargy, |
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languidness, laggardness, torpor, phlegm, lifelessness, |
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stagnation, shiftlessness, pococurantism, faineance, accidie, |
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Rare hebetude: A few days' golfing in Scotland will help to |
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shake off the sluggishness of your Caribbean holiday. |
slum |
n. Often, slums. ghetto, warren, shanty town, US skid row or |
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Skid Road: Many very famous men emerged from the slums of the |
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Lower East Side in New York. |
slump |
n. 1 dip, trough, depreciation, decline, downturn, downslide, |
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recession, depression, falling-off, fall-off, fall, drop, |
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plunge, descent, crash, collapse, failure; nosedive, tailspin: |
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A slump in the housing market was one of the early signs of the |
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impending recession. The market went into a slump this morning |
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from which it barely recovered before closing. |
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--v. 2 decline, slip, recede, fall (off), drop, plunge, |
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descend, sink, crash, collapse, dive, plummet, take or go into a |
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nosedive or tailspin: Prices on the stock market slumped |
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following announcement of a rise in interest rates. 3 See |
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slouch, 1, above. |
slur |
n. 1 smear, insult, calumny, aspersion, affront, stigma, stain, |
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blot, spot, (black) mark, discredit, insinuation, innuendo, |
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imputation, slander, libel, slight, Colloq put-down: She |
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resents any slur on her husband's character. |
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--v. 2 mumble, misarticulate, garble, stutter, lisp: Some |
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people nowadays slur their speech so badly that one can hardly |
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understand them. 3 slur over. gloss over, pass over, disregard, |
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give short shrift to, ignore: The eulogies at the memorial |
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service slurred over his faults and focused on his |
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accomplishments. |
sly |
adj. 1 cunning, artful, crafty, clever, wily, guileful, |
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underhand(ed), deceitful, treacherous, foxy, scheming, plotting, |
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designing, conniving, furtive, shrewd, sneaky, stealthy, |
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insidious, devious, disingenuous, tricky, shifty, sharp, canny, |
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Colloq shady: It was devilishly sly of him to manoeuvre you |
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into paying for his party. 2 impish, elfish, roguish, |
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mischievous, puckish, devilish, scampish, naughty, arch, |
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waggish: Even as he was flirting with Allison he was giving |
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Antonia sly, conspiratorial winks. |
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--n. 3 on the sly. slyly or slily, quietly, surreptitiously, |
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covertly, stealthily, furtively, sneakily, underhandedly, |
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clandestinely, Colloq on the q.t. or Q.T., on the side: |
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Although her parents had forbidden her to see him again, Antonia |
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continued to meet Kevin on the sly. |
19.8 small...
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small adj. 1 little, tiny, short, diminutive, petite, mignon(ne), wee, teeny, elfin, Lilliputian, midget, miniature, minute, minuscule, baby, bantam, pocket(-sized), mini; undersized,
immature, young, under age; Colloq pint-sized, US peewee: She was once small enough to fit into a size 7. When I was very small, my father took me to my first cricket match. 2 slight, secondary, insignificant, trivial, inconsequential, lesser,