city slicker

American  

noun

Often Disparaging.

1. a term used to refer to a worldly, nattily dressed city dweller.

---

city slicker British  

noun

1. a person with the sophistication often attributed to city people

2. a smooth tricky untrustworthy person

---

Sensitive Note

This term is often used with disparaging intent, implying that the city dweller is slick in a deceptive way, or ill-suited to a rural environment.

Etymology

Origin of city slicker

An Americanism dating back to 1920–25

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

city slicker

Mostly that has meant pretending to be a Real American by riding horses, going hunting or driving around in a pick-up to prove they aren’t some effete city slicker.

From Salon ● Nov. 23, 2025

I’m gay, and I’m Black, and I’m a city slicker with no children.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 26, 2022

James was dirty and grumpy — a city slicker trying to learn to manage all the complex human and animal needs that suddenly had become his responsibility.

From New York Times ● Jul. 31, 2020

When an actor who makes Westerns visits a Montana dude ranch, a woman realizes that he’s actually a city slicker who knows nothing about being a cowboy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2019

Being a city slicker, he’d no doubt turn tail and beat it back to Terre Haute when we started bleeding out the first hog.

From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck