slither

CEFRB2

/ˈslɪðə/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To move smoothly like a snake.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    Slithery; slippery.

Examples

  • Tom saw a snake slither across the path.

  • Ziri felt something slither under his left leg.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
4

Also pronounced

  • /ˈslɪvə/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To slide.

  2. To move about smoothly and from side to side.

noun

Extra meaning

  1. A limestone rubble.

More examples

In context

  • [Indiana:] Wave it at anything that slithers. [Marion:] The whole place is slithering!

  • Some snow slides recorded have exceeded a million tons and slithered down the mountain-side at a speed of 60 miles an hour.

  • I bent down and with both hands I scooped up as much of this pissshit as I could. The green and brown clump felt like Jello as it dripped down all over my clothes. It was slithering through inbetween^([sic]) my fingers.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The snake began to blank silently across the rocky ground in the dark.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From Middle English slitheren, alteration of slideren (“to slither, creep”), from Old English slidrian (“to slip, slide, slither”), from Proto-West Germanic *slidrōn (“to slide, slither”), from Proto-Indo-European *sleydʰ- (“to slip”), equivalent to slide + -er (frequentative suffix). Cognate with Dutch slidderen (“to slip, wriggle, slither”), German schlittern (“to slither, skid”). More at slide.