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Slick vs Shallow - What's the difference?

slick | shallow | Related terms |

As adjectives the difference between slick and shallow

is that slick is slippery due to a covering of liquid; often used to describe appearances while shallow is having little depth; significantly less deep than wide.

As nouns the difference between slick and shallow

is that slick is a covering of liquid, particularly oil while shallow is a shallow portion of an otherwise deep body of water.

As verbs the difference between slick and shallow

is that slick is to make slick while shallow is to make or become less deep.

As a proper noun Slick

is a term of address, generally applied to males, possibly including strangers, implying that the person addressed is slick in the sense of "sophisticated", but often used sarcastically.

slick

English

Adjective

(er)
  • Slippery due to a covering of liquid; often used to describe appearances.
    • This rain is making the roads slick .
    The top coating of lacquer gives this finish a slick look.
  • Appearing expensive or sophisticated.
    • They read all kinds of slick magazines.
  • Superficially convincing but actually untrustworthy.
    • That new sales rep is slick . Be sure to read the fine print before you buy anything.
  • * 2014 , Ian Black, " Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis", The Guardian , 27 November 2014:
    • The threat the most radical of them pose is evidently far greater at home than abroad: in one characteristically slick and chilling Isis video – entitled “a message to the Jordanian tyrant” – a smiling, long-haired young man in black pats the explosive belt round his waist as he burns his passport and his fellow fighters praise the memory of Zarqawi, who was killed in Iraq in 2006.
  • Clever, making an apparently hard task easy; often used sarcastically.
    • Our new process for extracting needles from haystacks is extremely slick .
    That was a slick move, locking your keys in the car.
  • Extraordinarily great or special.
    • That is one slick bicycle: it has all sorts of features!
  • sleek; smooth
  • * Chapman
    • Both slick and dainty.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A covering of liquid, particularly oil.
    • Careful in turn three — there's an oil slick on the road.
    The oil slick has now spread to cover the entire bay, critically endangering the sea life.
  • Someone who is clever and untrustworthy.
  • A tool used to make something smooth or even.
  • (sports, automotive) A tire with a smooth surface instead of a tread pattern, often used in auto racing.
    • You'll go much faster if you put on slicks .
  • A helicopter.
  • (printing) A camera-ready image to be used by a printer. The "slick" is photographed to produce a negative image which is then used to burn a positive offset plate or other printing device.
    • The project was delayed because the slick had not been delivered to the printer.
  • A wide paring chisel used in joinery.

    • Synonyms

    * (tyre) slick tire, slick tyre

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make slick
    • The surface had been slicked .
  • * {{quote-news,
    • year=2009, date=January 14, author=Melissa Clark, title=Green, Gold and Pink: Fast, Easy and Delicious, url=http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/dining/14appe.html, work=New York Times, passage=So I slicked the broccoli with oil and seasonings and set it to roast.}}

    Derived terms

    * slicker * slicken * slick back

    Anagrams

    *

    shallow

    English

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Having little depth; significantly less deep than wide.
    • This crater is relatively shallow .
    Saute the onions in a shallow pan.
  • Extending not far downward.
    • The water is shallow here.
  • Concerned mainly with superficial matters.
    • It was a glamorous but shallow lifestyle.
  • Lacking interest or substance.
    • The acting is good, but the characters are shallow .
  • Not intellectually deep; not penetrating deeply; simple; not wise or knowing.
    • shallow learning
  • * Francis Bacon
    • The king was neither so shallow , nor so ill advertised, as not to perceive the intention of the French king.
  • (obsolete) Not deep in tone.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • the sound perfecter and not so shallow and jarring
  • (tennis) Not far forward, close to the net
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=June 28 , author=Jamie Jackson , title=Wimbledon 2012: Lukas Rosol shocked by miracle win over Rafael Nadal , work=the Guardian citation , page= , passage=Rosol spurned the chance to finish off a shallow second serve by spooning into the net, and a wild forehand took the set to 5-4, with the native of Prerov required to hold his serve for victory.}}

    Antonyms

    * deep

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A shallow portion of an otherwise deep body of water.
    • The ship ran aground in an unexpected shallow .
  • * Francis Bacon
    • A swift stream is not heard in the channel, but upon shallows of gravel.
  • * Dryden
    • dashed on the shallows of the moving sand
  • A fish, the rudd.

    • Usage notes

    * Usually used in the plural form.

    See also

    * shoal * sandbar * sandbank

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make or become less deep
  • * {{quote-journal, 2009, date=February 6, Andrew Z. Krug et al., Signature of the End-Cretaceous Mass Extinction in the Modern Biota, Science citation
    • , passage=The shallowing of Cenozoic age-frequency curves from tropics to poles thus appears to reflect the decreasing probability for genera to reach and remain established in progressively higher latitudes ( 9 ). }}

    Anagrams

    *