slippery

• IPA^(key): /ˈslɪpəɹi/, /ˈslɪpɹi/

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slippery (comparative slipperier, superlative slipperiest)

1. Of a surface, having low friction, often due to being covered in a non-viscous liquid, and therefore hard to grip, hard to stand on without falling, etc.

   Oily substances render things slippery.

2. (figuratively, by extension) Evasive; difficult to pin down.

   a slippery person

   a slippery promise

3. (obsolete) Liable to slip; not standing firm.
   • 1602, William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, III. iii. 84:

     Which when they fall, as being slippery standers, / The love that leaned on them, as slippery too, / Do one pluck down another, and together / Die in the fall.

4. Unstable; changeable; inconstant.
   • 1668, Sir John Denham

     He looking down
     With scorn or pity on the slippery state
     Of kings, will tread upon the neck of fate.

5. (obsolete) Wanton; unchaste; loose in morals.
   • 1610, William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale, I. ii. 273:

     My wife is slippery? If thou wilt confess –

• (of a surface): greasy, slick, slimy, slippy, wet

• (of a surface): sticky

• slip