What does "slot" mean?
A narrow depression, perforation, or aperture; especially, one for the reception of a piece fitting or sliding into it.
Slot
/slɑt/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A narrow depression, perforation, or aperture; especially, one for the reception of a piece fitting or sliding into it.
- Grammar: slot is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: time slot, abysm, abyss, aperture.
- Useful contrasts: blockage, cancel, closure.
- Usage evidence: Please give us a 20-30 min. time slot for our presentation.
How to use "slot"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "slot" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "slot" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "slot" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "slot" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "slot" is acting as noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "time slot" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "slot", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A narrow depression, perforation, or aperture; especially, one for the reception of a piece fitting or sliding into it.
"insert tab A into slot B"
- 2 A broad, flat, wooden bar, a slat, especially as used to secure a door, window, etc.
- 3 a small slit (as for inserting a coin or depositing mail) wordnet
- 4 A period of time or position within a schedule or sequence.
"I've booked your haircut for the 2 p.m. slot."
- 5 A metal bolt or wooden bar, especially as a crosspiece.
Show 21 more definitions
- 6 a slot machine that is used for gambling wordnet
- 7 Clipping of slot machine (“a game of chance played for money using a coin slot”). abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, especially, in-plural, informal
"I walked past the poker tables and went straight to the slots."
- 8 An implement for barring, bolting, locking or securing a door, box, gate, lid, window or the like. Northern-England, Scotland
- 9 (computer) a socket in a microcomputer that will accept a plug-in circuit board wordnet
- 10 The track of an animal, especially a deer; spoor.
"The Huntsman by his slot, or breaking earth, perceaves"
- 11 A fort or castle. obsolete
"Thou paydst for building of a slot, That wrought thine own decay."
- 12 a position in a grammatical linguistic construction in which a variety of alternative units are interchangeable wordnet
- 13 A crack or fissure in a glacier or snowfield; a chasm; a crevasse.
"By this time of winter the edge of the ice is rafted up in confused floes, and often reveals slots and fissures quite large enough to hold a young husky prisoner."
- 14 the trail of an animal (especially a deer) wordnet
- 15 The vagina. slang
- 16 a position in a hierarchy or organization wordnet
- 17 The allocated time for an aircraft's departure or arrival at an airport's runway.
- 18 a time assigned on a schedule or agenda wordnet
- 19 A space in memory or on disk etc. in which a particular type of object can be stored.
"The game offers four save slots."
- 20 In a flying display, the fourth position; after the leader and two wingmen.
- 21 The barrel or tube of a wave. slang
- 22 A rectangular area directly in front of the net and extending toward the blue line.
- 23 The area between the last offensive lineman on either side of the center and the wide receiver on that side.
- 24 A channel opening in the stator or rotor of a rotating machine for ventilation and insertion of windings.
"She'd like him jammed into her slot, like him to crank into her and she didn't think ignition would be far off if he did."
- 25 The inside of the "rim" or semicircular copy desk, occupied by the supervisor of the copy editors.
"The slot is not a glamorous job. It hasn't been discovered by Shubert Alley or the fiction magazines. To the cub reporter, eager for by-lines and self-expression, the whole copy desk looks like a backwater."
- 26 A fish that is within regulation size limits and hence can be caught and kept.
Verb
- 1 To put something (such as a coin) into a slot (narrow aperture).
- 2 To bar, bolt or lock a door or window. Northern-England, Scotland, obsolete
- 3 assign a time slot wordnet
- 4 To assign something or someone into a slot (gap in a schedule or sequence).
- 5 To shut with violence; to slam. UK, dialectal, obsolete, transitive
"to slot a door"
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 To create a slot (narrow aperture or groove), as for example by cutting or machining.
- 7 To put something where it belongs.
"And Stamford Bridge erupted with joy as Florent Malouda slotted in a cross from Drogba, who had stayed just onside."
- 8 To kill. British, Rhodesia, slang
"One young soldier told me he couldn't bear to shoot the wild game in Rhodesia, but he had no trouble "slotting" floppies. "The more I kill," he said, "the better I feel. They're ruining everything for us.""
- 9 To fall, or cause to fall, into a crevasse.
"The D-4s being heavy vehicles, were in difficulties with crevasses right from the start. At one stage Wood said cheerfully, "Let's give the game away after we get a D-4 slotted one more time", expecting just to get a track break through over a hole. The next minute his machine with him in it disappeared from sight — the tail and the tip of the blade caught and held a little way down the bottomless hole. Reiffel brought his D-4 around on the ice with the big machine picking its way between slots like a ballet dancer, and after a lot of work with ice axes, the slotted machine was hauled out."
- 10 To kick the ball between the posts for a goal; to score a goal by doing this. informal
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"Please give us a 20-30 min. time slot for our presentation."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "slot"?
Common synonyms include: time slot, abysm, abyss, aperture, appointment, appositive.
How do you use "slot" in a sentence?
Please give us a 20-30 min. time slot for our presentation.
How do you pronounce "slot"?
Pronounced /slɑt/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English slot, from Old French esclot, likely from Old Norse slóð (“track”). As a gambling machine, via clipping of slot machine. Compare sleuth. The scheduling (calendar) sense is by a metaphor whereby the time span is equated with the segment of a page or part of a device that represents it.
Etymology 2
From Middle English slot, from Middle Low German slot or Middle Dutch slot, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *slot, from Proto-Germanic *slutą, related to the verb *sleutaną (“to lock”). Cognate with Dutch slot, German Schloss (“door-bolt”). The verb is probably from Middle Dutch sluten (“to close, to lock”) (Modern Dutch sluiten (“to close”)).