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Stumble vs Slick - What's the difference?

stumble | slick |

As a noun stumble

is a fall, trip or substantial misstep.

As a verb stumble

is to trip or fall; to walk clumsily.

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.

stumble

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A fall, trip or substantial misstep.
  • An error or blunder.
  • A clumsy walk.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=52, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= The new masters and commanders , passage=From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts. For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.}}

    Synonyms

    * (a blunder) blooper, blunder, boo-boo, defect, error, fault, faux pas, fluff, gaffe, lapse, mistake, slip, thinko * See also

    Verb

    (stumbl)
  • To trip or fall; to walk clumsily.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
    • He stumbled up the dark avenue.
  • *
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for.}}
  • To make a mistake or have trouble.
  • To cause to stumble or trip.
  • (figurative) To mislead; to confound; to cause to err or to fall.
  • * Milton
    • False and dazzling fires to stumble men.
  • * John Locke
    • One thing more stumbles me in the very foundation of this hypothesis.
  • To strike or happen (upon a person or thing) without design; to fall or light by chance; with on'', ''upon'', or ''against .
  • * Dryden
    • Ovid stumbled , by some inadvertency, upon Livia in a bath.
  • * C. Smart
    • Forth as she waddled in the brake, / A grey goose stumbled on a snake.

    Derived terms

    * * * *

    See also

    *

    Anagrams

    *

    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

    *