sleek
1 Americanadjective
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sleeker,
comparative
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sleekest
superlative
-
smooth or glossy, as hair, an animal, etc.
-
well-fed or well-groomed.
-
trim and graceful; finely contoured; streamlined.
a sleek sports car.
-
smooth in manners, speech, etc.; suave.
-
cleverly or deceitfully skillful; slick.
a sleek confidence man.
verb (used with object)
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sleeks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
sleeked,
past participle, past
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sleeking
present participle
adjective
-
smooth and shiny; polished
-
polished in speech or behaviour; unctuous
-
(of an animal or bird) having a shiny healthy coat or feathers
-
(of a person) having a prosperous appearance
verb
-
to make smooth and glossy, as by grooming, etc
-
(usually foll by over) to cover (up), as by making more agreeable; gloss (over)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sleeksimple
-
sleekssimple
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have sleekedperfect
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has sleekedperfect
-
am sleekingprogressive
-
are sleekingprogressive
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is sleekingprogressive
-
have been sleekingperfect progressive
-
has been sleekingperfect progressive
Past
-
sleekedsimple
-
had sleekedperfect
-
was sleekingprogressive
-
were sleekingprogressive
-
had been sleekingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sleek1
First recorded in 1580–90; variant of slick
Origin of sleek2
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English sleken, variant of slick
Explanation
If your hair is sleek, it is smooth and glossy. If your car is sleek, it's shiny and looks like it goes fast. Sleek always means smooth, glossy, and streamlined. Sleek is a variant of the word, slick. When you slick back your hair with grease, it becomes sleek. Cats are often called sleek with their silky coats and lithe movements. A dress could be described as sleek, if it fits tightly to your body and makes you look polished and perfectly fit. When something is sleek, it's aerodynamic.
Vocabulary lists containing sleek
Mr. Popper’s Penguins
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Rebound
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"The Tragedy of Macbeth," Vocabulary from Act 3
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The expansive island provides additional preparation space while serving as a focal point for the kitchen’s sleek design.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026
With its sleek form, black bug-eyed windows, and six mini overhead rotors, it looks like what would happen if a helicopter and a Waymo had a baby.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
WSJ | Buy Side: This sleek, refillable lighter combines classy design and a clever lighting mechanism.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026
He hired a student employee and found a sleek, glass office space outside Glasgow - which he quickly discovered wasn't entirely suited to an engineer and his tools.
From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026
She directs me to one of three sleek white cylinders.
From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko
Following the dotted lines of a typical front-wheel-drive liftback sedan and draped in some desultory sheet metal, the S5 is no lower, sleeker or more emotionally compelling than the mean-average.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2026
Starting next week, the Surge is going to look different: sleeker and fresher but still phenomenally trenchant.
From Slate ● Sep. 5, 2026
South Korean technology giant Samsung unveiled new, sleeker smartphone models Wednesday priced more than previous models as artificial intelligence raises component costs.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
Read: The latest Oura and Fitbit wearables are smarter and sleeker than ever — but do they keep you healthy?
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 18, 2026
Looking round the little group that gathered on the grass, Hazel saw that all of them—even Holly—were looking stronger, sleeker and in better shape than when they had first come to the down.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
John Dowie was described in accounts as "the sleekest and kindest of landlords".
From BBC ● Nov. 30, 2024
These aren’t the sleekest wearables on the market, but they’re not a crime against fashion either.
From The Verge ● Jun. 17, 2022
Qataris were behind the Shard, the Renzo Piano-designed tower that is London’s sleekest skyscraper.
From New York Times ● Jul. 31, 2017
Even the sleekest shows require constant maintenance under the hood.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 1, 2015
With great surprise, he found his bed unoccupied; the sheets and pillows in the sleekest rest.
From Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and Travels, Vol. I (of 2) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A final finishing dollop of aioli swirled into the al dente rice sleeks it with satiny richness.
From New York Times ● Dec. 19, 2019
The true adjective clause is “sleeking ... locks” = with which she sleeks, etc.; and the true participial clause is “she sits ... rocks” = seated on ... rocks.
From Milton's Comus by William Bell
Vanity is to a man what the oily secretion is to a bird, with which it sleeks and adjusts the plumage ruffled by whatever causes.
From Dreamthorp A Book of Essays Written in the Country by Alexander Smith
His eye burns deep, his tail is arched, And streams upon the shadowy air, The daylight sleeks his jetty flanks, His mistress' hair.
From Collected Poems 1901-1918 in Two Volumes Volume II. by Walter De la Mare
Through the grass and the flowers came the evil trail, turning from time to time its head to its back, licking like a beast that sleeks itself.
From Divine Comedy, Norton's Translation, Purgatory by Charles Eliot Norton
Takisha Sturdivant-Drew sleeked Kerry Washington’s coat; and Amy Adams, Naomi Campbell, and Heidi Klum, who was coiffed by Andy Lecompte, joined her with forays into flattening.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 9, 2017
He sleeked his hair, put on spats, became meticulous about his clothes.
From Time Magazine Archive
From western ranges, where the feed is scanty, cattle are moving by the hungry thousands to corn-rich Missouri, Iowa and eastern Kansas, there to be stuffed and sleeked for market.
From Time Magazine Archive
The sea, though undulated into long roods of swells, seemed fixed, and was sleeked at the surface like waved lead that has cooled and set in the smelter's mould.
From The Piazza Tales by Herman Melville
Sssuri, his fur sleeked tight to his body, waded ashore, shook himself free of excess water, and turned immediately to study the wall of the cliff which guarded the interior of the island.
From Star Born by Andre Norton
It began sleeking its long, yellow hair, which fell over its shoulders; its eyes were not turned toward me, but to the door; it seemed listening, watching, waiting.
From The Lock and Key Library Classic Mystery and Detective Stories: Old Time English by Julian Hawthorne
It began sleeking its long, yellow hair, which fell over its shoulders; its eyes were not turned towards me, but to the door; it seemed listening, watching, waiting.
From Haunted and the Haunters by Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Lytton
The rest of the travellers sat basking in the sunshine all that day, dressing their sores and bruises, dusting themselves, and sleeking out their matted hair.
From The Three Mulla-mulgars by Walter De la Mare
There he stood at the door sleeking his hair with old country habit, and every now and then stealing a glance round at the splendour of the apartment.
From Mary Barton by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
"Ye've just guessed it," answered Thomas, sleeking down his front hair with his fingers in a sober way.
From The World's Greatest Books — Volume 06 — Fiction by Arthur Mee
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