sliding

verb

Definition of slidingnext
present participle of slide
1
as in sneaking
to move about in a sly or secret manner slid gently into his seat without anyone else in church noticing

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance
2
as in flowing
to move or proceed smoothly and readily at this point the river slides along its banks with barely a ripple

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in creeping
to move slowly with the body close to the ground the convict escaped by sliding through the prison's ductwork

Synonyms & Similar Words

Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for sliding
  1. creeping
  2. lurking
  3. gliding
  4. slipping
  5. cruising
  6. slithering
Verb
  • Invasive plants also spread quickly in multiple ways, such as by seeds, creeping stems and roots, or fruits eaten by birds and dropped elsewhere.
    Arricca Elin SanSone, Southern Living, 5 Jan. 2025
  • Another sign of creeping fatigue?
    Liam Twomey, The Athletic, 5 Jan. 2025
Definition of creeping
Verb
  • Young New Yorkers sense lions, tigers and bears lurking too.
    Caroline Aiken Koster, New York Daily News, 1 Jan. 2025
  • Smith incorporated people from other families, stories from the neighborhood—there’s a terrifying lurking child molester who came from a newspaper article.
    Perri Klass, The New Yorker, 30 Dec. 2024
Definition of lurking
Verb
  • The area is bustling with locals and tourists strolling the waterfront, shopping, dining, and snapping photos of cruise ships gliding in and out of the area.
    Tomeka Jones, Travel + Leisure, 29 Dec. 2024
  • The production pushes his performance even further, as director Browning follows Dracula’s gliding, subtly batlike gait and lights his bulging stare to make the whites of his eyes gleam.
    Celia Mattison, Vulture, 27 Dec. 2024
Definition of gliding
Verb
  • Harrison took Georgia’s second-half kickoff all the way to the end zone, slipping a tackle near the middle of the field, cutting toward the right sideline and outrunning everyone.
    Brett Martel, The Denver Post, 2 Jan. 2025
  • By 1980, amid double-digit inflation, spiraling gas prices, and Ayatollah Khomeini’s revolution in Iran, the United States was slipping into another recession.
    Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 30 Dec. 2024
Definition of slipping
Verb
  • After ten days of cruising Antarctic waters, dodging icebergs, and spotting elephant seals, the cruise’s 140 passengers could toss their Dramamine, catch a plane from the gravel runway at Frei Station research base, and fly straight back to Chile.
    Blair Braverman, Condé Nast Traveler, 24 Dec. 2024
  • The Celtics are cruising off of stellar chemistry and roster continuity.
    Steven Louis Goldstein, The Athletic, 24 Dec. 2024
Definition of cruising
Verb
  • Employees of a store in the Aloha State were in for a slithering surprise after a two-foot snake was found inside a shipping container of Christmas trees sent to the island.
    Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, Fox News, 22 Nov. 2024
  • The world's largest slithering snake is sure to send a tingle down your spine.
    Ashlyn Messier, Fox News, 12 Nov. 2024
Definition of slithering
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Thesaurus Entries Near sliding

slides

sliding

slight

See More Nearby Entries 

Cite this Entry

“Sliding.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sliding. Accessed 20 Jan. 2025.

Copy Citation

Share

More from Merriam-Webster on sliding

Nglish: Translation of sliding for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of sliding for Arabic Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See All

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

Using Bullet Points ( • )

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

More Commonly Misspelled Words
See All

Popular in Wordplay

See All

Top 12 Sophisticated Compliments

Word of the Year 2024 | Polarization

Terroir, Oenophile, & Magnum: Ten Words About Wine

8 Words for Lesser-Known Musical Instruments

10 Words from Taylor Swift Songs (Merriam's Version)
See All

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Word Game Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
white rubber duck stands out in a row of yellow ducks
Odd Word Out: Synonyms Quiz Figure out which word isn't like the others.