Sleek
adj, adv, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 That which makes smooth; varnish. uncountable
- 1 To make smooth or glossy; to polish. transitive
"The sloping brush sleeks the surface."
- 2 make slick or smooth wordnet
- 3 To calm or soothe. dated, transitive
- 4 To glide. dated, intransitive
- 1 Having an even, smooth surface; smooth
"sleek hair"
- 2 Glossy.
- 3 Not rough or harsh.
"Those rugged names to our like mouths grow sleek."
- 4 Slim and streamlined; not plump, thick, or stocky.
"But if it were like a rabbit that Rosa went, she came back like a weasel or some such sleek and lissom creature."
- 5 Healthy, well-fed and well-groomed; in good condition.
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- 6 Dated form of slick (“convincing but untrustworthy”). alt-of, dated
"'Are these the Carrara marbles?' the lady queried. 'Yes, madam,' responded the sleek salesman."
- 1 having a smooth, gleaming surface reflecting light; being of a smooth, soft and lustrous quality, resembling silk wordnet
- 2 designed or arranged to offer the least resistance to fluid flow wordnet
- 3 well-groomed and neatly tailored; especially too well-groomed wordnet
- 1 With ease and dexterity. colloquial, dated, not-comparable
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"The average Westerner, in his sleek complacency, will see in the tea ceremony but another instance of the thousand and one oddities which constitute the quaintness and childishness of the East to him."
Etymology
A late variant of slick; cognate to German schleichen (Old High German slihhan) and Dutch slijk (“mud, slime”). Compare slink.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.