Slimeball
noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A round lump made up of or coated with slime or a slime-like substance such as mucus.
- 2 A round lump made up of or coated with slime or a slime-like substance such as mucus.; A mucus-coated lump containing the cercariae (“parasitic larvae”) of a liver fluke (of the phylum Platyhelminthes). specifically
"The eggs [of a lancet fluke (Dicrocoelium dendriticum)] that pass out with the manure of an infested sheep do not hatch in the open. When eaten by the snail, they hatch and finally give rise to larvae that pass out of the snail's body in gelatinous "slime[-]balls.""
- 3 A person who is slimy (that is, sneaky or underhanded) or otherwise undesirable. colloquial, derogatory, figuratively
"Even slimeballs were entitled to representation, though."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"The eggs [of a lancet fluke (Dicrocoelium dendriticum)] that pass out with the manure of an infested sheep do not hatch in the open. When eaten by the snail, they hatch and finally give rise to larvae that pass out of the snail's body in gelatinous "slime[-]balls.""
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *sley- Proto-Germanic *slīmą Old English slīm English slime Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- Proto-Germanic *balluz Old English *beall Middle English bal English ball English slimeball From slime + ball. Sense 1 (“a round lump made up of or coated with slime or a slime-like substance”) is a calque of German Schleimkugel, from Schleim (“mucus, slime”) + Kugel (“ball”), while sense 1.1 (“a mucus-coated lump containing the cercariae of a liver fluke”) may be a calque of German Schleimball (from Schleim (“slime”) + Ball (“ball”)).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.