slippery
slippery — 形容詞
1. A surface that is so smooth, wet, or icy that you lose your footing on it, or an
濕滑的
表面因水、冰或光滑而容易使人滑倒或抓不住
A surface that is so smooth, wet, or icy that you lose your footing on it, or an object that slides out of your hands easily.
Zuri slipped on the kitchen floor right after she mopped it with soap.
Zuri 剛用肥皂水拖完廚房地板，結果在上面滑了一跤。
slippery floor after mopping
Adina told the children to walk carefully across the wet tiles by the swimming pool.
Adina 叫孩子們在游泳池邊的溼磁磚上小心走路。
Marco grabbed the railing when his shoes lost grip on the icy pavement outside.
Marco 的鞋子在公寓外面結冰的人行道上失去抓地力，他趕緊抓住欄杆。
The trout was so slippery that Jin could not hold it with both hands.
那條鱒魚太滑了，Jin 兩隻手都抓不住。
A sign warned hikers that the mossy rocks near the waterfall were extremely slippery.
步道上的告示牌警告健行的人，瀑布附近長滿青苔的石頭非常滑。
文法句型
slippery + noun
be + slippery
get/grow + slippery
用法筆記
Often used with nouns describing surfaces that people walk or stand on: floor, road, pavement, path, rocks, tiles, stairs. Also used for objects that are hard to grip, such as fish, soap, or handles.
常見錯誤
2. Describes a person who cannot be trusted because they are dishonest, evasive, or
狡猾的
不誠實、不可信任，善於隱藏真實意圖
Describes a person who cannot be trusted because they are dishonest, evasive, or skilled at hiding their true intentions.
Reema's defence lawyer was slippery — he always found ways to bend the rules.
Reema 的辯護律師很狡猾——他總是有辦法鑽法律漏洞。
slippery + lawyer / dishonest professional
The car salesman seemed charming, but Benjamin found him slippery and looked elsewhere.
那個汽車業務員看起來很親切，但 Benjamin 覺得他很狡猾，於是去了別家看車。
Walid answered questions in a slippery way so that nobody could pin him down.
Walid 用很狡猾的方式回答問題，沒有人能確切掌握他的意思。
Ayesha warned her team that the client was a slippery customer who had broken three deals.
Ayesha 提醒團隊說，那個客戶是個狡猾的傢伙，之前已經毀約過三次了。
The politician's slippery promises sounded good during the campaign but vanished once she took office.
那位政治人物的狡猾承諾在競選期間聽起來很動聽，但她一上任就全忘了。
- untrustworthy
more direct and formal; lacks the cunning connotation of slippery
- shady
informal; suggests dishonest activity more than personal evasiveness
- deceitful
stronger moral judgment; implies deliberate lying rather than evasive talk
- sly
emphasises cleverness in hiding intentions; can be admiring in some contexts
- trustworthy
direct opposite — someone you can count on
- straightforward
describes someone who speaks openly and does not hide their intentions
- honest
simple moral opposite
文法句型
slippery + noun (person/character/type)
用法筆記
Typically used with nouns that label people by role: salesman, politician, lawyer, customer, character, type. Rarely used for people you know personally — applying it to a friend would be a strong insult. The closest synonym in register is 'shady' (informal) or 'untrustworthy' (neutral).
常見錯誤
3. Describes a word, concept, or idea that is difficult to define clearly or to gra
模糊的
詞語或概念難以清楚定義或完全理解
Describes a word, concept, or idea that is difficult to define clearly or to grasp fully because its meaning shifts depending on the context or the person using it.
Lakan found the phrase 'academic freedom' slippery — every professor at the meeting used it differently.
Lakan 覺得「學術自由」這個詞很模糊——開會時每位教授對它的解釋都不一樣。
slippery + abstract phrase/concept
Élise tried to define 'respect' but the word felt too slippery to capture in one sentence.
Élise 試著定義「尊重」，但這個詞太模糊了，一句話說不清楚。
Hannah argued that 'fairness' is a slippery term — what seems fair to one person can be unfair to another.
Hannah 認為「公平」是一個模糊的詞——對一個人公平的事，對另一個人可能不公平。
The concept of 'common sense' is notoriously slippery — everyone claims it, but nobody agrees on its meaning.
「常識」這個概念出了名地模糊——每個人都說自己有，但沒有人同意它的定義。
Michael told his group that 'appropriate' was tricky because its meaning shifted in every context.
Michael 告訴小組成員，「合宜」這個詞很棘手，因為它的意思在不同情境下會改變。
- elusive
very close in meaning; emphasises that the thing is hard to catch or pin down
- ambiguous
more neutral — implies multiple possible meanings rather than deliberate vagueness
- vague
suggests insufficient detail rather than inherent shiftiness of meaning
- nebulous
formal; describes something hazy and ill-defined
文法句型
slippery + abstract noun
be + slippery
用法筆記
Only used with abstract nouns (concept, term, word, idea, notion, phrase). Never used for concrete objects or people in this sense. Distinguish from sense 1 (physical surfaces) and sense 2 (untrustworthy people) — if the subject is an abstract idea that resists clear definition, use this sense.