DictionaryAI

slip

SLIP/slɪp/

Verbslips, slipping, slipped

Noun pluralslips

44 meanings of slip

Practice

  1. 1
    verbintransitive
    To slide accidentally and lose one's footing or grip; of a thing, to slide suddenly out of position or out of someone's grasp.

    He slipped on the icy steps outside his front door.

    Hikers often slip where wet leaves cover the trail.

    UsageYou slip on ice or a wet floor, and things slip out of your hand.

    Similarslide, skid

    Note

    Wheels slip as readily as feet: a locomotive on damp rails can slip to a standstill, and a footballer can slip at the decisive moment.

  2. 2
    sneakverbintransitive
    To move quickly and often secretly, departing, entering, or escaping as if by sliding.

    The thief slipped through the alley and vanished into the crowd.

    Guests began to slip away before the speeches ended.

    UsageUsually with away, out, into or past: slip out of the room, slip away early.

    Similarslink

    Note

    Dryden's Virgil has a shadow that "slipp'd away", and Stevenson's Treasure Island has Jim and his mother, who "slipped along the hedges, noiseless and swift". The subject need not be a person, since errors can slip into an appendix.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Treasure Island is by Robert Louis Stevenson. gutenberg.org
    • Treasure Island contains the words “slipped along the hedges, noiseless and swift”. gutenberg.org
  3. 3
    declineverbfigurativelyintransitive
    To decline or drop gradually, as if sliding downward.

    The team's ranking slipped after three straight losses.

    Standards tend to slip when no one is watching.

    UsageOften slip to a lower place or slip by an amount: sales slipped by five percent.

    Similardrop, fall, slide, decline, dip

    Oppositerise, climb, improve

  4. 4
    verbtransitive
    To put, move, or pass something somewhere quickly, smoothly, or secretly, including sliding it on or off (as clothing, a ring, or a chain).

    She slipped the bookmark between the pages.

    Carefully slip the tray into the oven.

    UsageYou slip something into a place, or slip someone something, as in slip the doorman a tip.

    Similarslide, tuck, insert, ease

    Note

    Here the subject slides something else into place. John Arbuthnot's Law is a Bottomless Pit (1712) has a man accused of trying "to slip a Powder into her Drink". The verb also covers dressing in haste: in Edgar Rice Burroughs's The Return of Tarzan (1913), a countess must "slip something about her" before coming to the telephone. The same sense covers passing money covertly, as when a guest slips the doorman a tip.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • John Arbuthnot wrote Law Is a Bottomless Pit, first published in 1712. en.wikipedia.org
    • The work describes witnesses accusing a man of trying to slip powder into his mistress's drink. gutenberg.org
    • Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote The Return of Tarzan. gutenberg.org
    • The countess is instructed to slip something about her before coming to the telephone; Rokoff gives the instruction to her maid. gutenberg.org
  5. 5
    nouncountable
    A small, narrow piece of paper or other material, especially paper bearing information or meant for writing on.

    Each voter received a slip listing the candidates.

    He tucked the deposit slip into his wallet.

    UsageOften in a slip of paper or compounds like permission slip and deposit slip.

  6. 6
    nouncountable
    A single act or occurrence of losing one's footing and sliding.

    A quick slip on the muddy bank soaked his boots.

    The gymnast recovered fast after a slip on the beam.

    Similarslide, skid, stumble, fall, tumble

  7. 7
    nouncountable
    A small mistake or lapse in what one says or does, including a brief return to a harmful habit one is trying to give up.

    His slip in the report embarrassed the whole department.

    A single slip in her testimony changed the verdict.

    UsageBest known in a slip of the tongue, a small spoken mistake; you also make a slip.

    Similarmistake, error, lapse, oversight

    Note

    James George Frazer in 1906 corrects "a grammatical slip" in a passage he quotes. Thomas Fuller in 1655 could use it for something graver, a good man's failing that "mended his pace to martyrdom".

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • James George Frazer wrote in 1906 that he had corrected a grammatical slip in a quoted passage. archive.org
    • Thomas Fuller's relevant work, The Church-history of Britain, was published in 1655. ota.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
    • Fuller describes a good man's slip as having mended his pace to martyrdom. en.wiktionary.org
  8. 8
    verbtransitive
    To elude or evade something through smooth, gliding movement.

    The boxer slipped the punch and countered instantly.

    Smugglers slip the patrols by hugging the dark coastline.

    Similarevade, elude, dodge, duck, escape

  9. 9
    verbintransitive
    To make a mistake or act wrongly, often through carelessness; especially, to say or reveal something one did not mean to.

    My brother is so excited that he's bound to slip and mention the surprise party in front of Mom.

    She slipped in her reasoning and reached the wrong conclusion.

    UsageOften slip up, as in he slipped up and mentioned the party.

    Similarblunder, lapse

    Note

    Error pictured as a misstep: whoever slips loses their footing in conduct or thought rather than on the ground. The King James Bible of 1611 speaks of one that "slippeth in his speach, but not from his heart". That is a lapse of the tongue rather than of intent, and the same idea survives in the noun for a mistake.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

  10. 10
    dock spacenouncountable
    A berth; a space where a ship can be moored at a dock.

    The harbor patrol found the sailboat empty in its slip.

    Larger boats wait for a wider slip near the fuel dock.

    Similarberth, mooring, dock

    Note

    Harbor English has two slips, and they are easily confused. This one is a berth, the water space where a boat is moored, typically between piers or floats in a marina. The slipway is a ramp running into the water for launching and hauling out. A boat sits in its slip, but it goes down or up a slip.

  11. 11
    delayverbtransitive
    To allow a schedule, release, or deadline to move past its planned date.

    Management slipped the project deadline by two weeks.

    When the supplier falls behind, we slip the ship date accordingly.

    UsageThe date can slip by itself, or a team slips it: the release slipped to spring.

    Similardelay, postpone, push, defer

    Oppositeadvance

    Note

    Project managers' language for a date that moves. An imaginary CEO in Raj Karamchedu's It's Not About the Technology (2005) admits to "slipping the product release schedules", and Rail, reporting an interview with Chris Rayner in 2020, says a contract award "has slipped". The noun follows too: Robert Galen's Software Endgames advises, "make it a big slip and make it early."

Practice

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Origins

Meanings 1–4, 6–14, 16–17, 20–23

Middle English slippen probably came from Middle Low German slippen. Its ultimate source is Proto-Germanic *slipjaną ("to glide"), an iterative of *slīpaną ("to slip, slide"), which goes back to *sleyb- ("slimy, to slide") in Proto-Indo-European. Old English slipor ("slippery") is related.

Meanings 5, 18–19

This probably comes from slippe, a word of Middle Dutch or of Middle Low German, and in the end it likely has a link to *slīban, which meant "to split" in Proto-West Germanic.

Meaning 15

Old English slyp, slyppe, or slipa ("a viscous, slimy substance") became Middle English slyp, though where the Old English word came from is uncertain. One possible source is Proto-Germanic *sleupaną ("to slip, sneak"), and another is *slippijaną ("to glide"). Old English slūpan ("to slip, glide") is comparable.