slither
Americanverb (used without object)
-
slithers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
slithered,
past participle, past
-
slithering
present participle
-
to slide down or along a surface, especially unsteadily, from side to side, or with some friction or noise.
The box slithered down the chute.
-
to go or walk with a sliding motion.
The snake slithered across the path.
verb (used with object)
-
slithers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
slithered,
past participle, past
-
slithering
present participle
noun
verb
-
to move or slide or cause to move or slide unsteadily, as on a slippery surface
-
(intr) to travel with a sliding motion
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
slithersimple
-
slitherssimple
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have slitheredperfect
-
has slitheredperfect
-
am slitheringprogressive
-
are slitheringprogressive
-
is slitheringprogressive
-
have been slitheringperfect progressive
-
has been slitheringperfect progressive
Past
-
slitheredsimple
-
had slitheredperfect
-
was slitheringprogressive
-
were slitheringprogressive
-
had been slitheringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of slither
1150–1200; Middle English slitheren, variant of sliddren, Old English slid ( e ) rian, frequentative of slīdan to slide; see -er 6
Explanation
Slither means to move in a sideways motion, usually silently. Snakes, of all kinds, slither, from the original snake in the Garden of Eden, to that untrustworthy-looking individual who approaches you in the street. Slither comes from the Old English term slidrian, meaning "to slide on a loose or gravely surface." While slide is in some ways similar to slither, it lacks its truly nasty moral and physical associations. It's a safe bet that slitherers do not have your best interests at heart.
Vocabulary lists containing slither
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
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Hot to Trot: Animal Ambulation
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Beowulf: A New Telling
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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:
An unseasonable weather pattern that included heavy rain and sweltering heat served as a signal for rattlesnakes to slither out of their underground winter burrows in search of food and mates.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 21, 2026
Still, he held on to a slither of hope.
From Barron's ● Feb. 27, 2026
Mystified, he wanders the dank halls of their rented palazzo and the fetid alleyways of the “pestilential city” where canal waters slither past like “a fat, grey-green worm.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2025
In Monsoon’s episode, musical notes soar through the air and slither around characters to detain them, all special effects that were added as CGI in postproduction.
From Seattle Times ● May 10, 2024
Maddie untangled the harness and let the pilot slither to the ground.
From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
"You take multiple pictures, sometimes over 100 and it takes tiny little slithers of focus, and then you put all those into software, and that creates your final image."
From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2025
She imagines standing alone in a nondescript finished office basement as a giant snake slithers by.
From New York Times ● Jan. 25, 2024
Once it has a plan in place, the 14-foot-long robot lowers its head, engages its 48 motors and slowly slithers forward.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2023
You stand stock-still until it quiets down and slithers on its way.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2023
He slithers up to a note, hits it, flails, recovers, oozes in the direction of another note.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
Throughout the World Cup, the team slithered away from trouble again and again … until the final game.
From Slate ● Jul. 20, 2026
But she clipped the wall of the halfpipe halfway down the course and slithered to the base, losing a ski.
From Barron's ● Feb. 19, 2026
Then, almost out of nowhere, replacement scrum-half George Horne slithered across the grass and into the corner, although Russell could not add the extras.
From BBC ● Feb. 7, 2026
They spontaneously linked together to form chains that slithered through some obstacles and surrounded other objects.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2025
Denise lost control of her butterscotch pudding, and it slithered down her leg.
From "Chasing Vermeer" by Blue Balliett
The promotional contents within tap into parents’ grief with a slithering sort of sympathy: “You want more time together . . . you’re not ready to forget.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Set against a slithering, seductive Chicago house beat, it’s really more of a command, one that the Queen of Pop immediately follows with another decree: “Come on, meet me on the dance floor.”
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
On the slithering “Naraka,” a mass of voices come together in a chant while a dense tangle of electronics coil around them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 26, 2026
Rattlesnakes do their best slithering in warm temperatures, specifically the high 70s to low 80s.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2026
Anya watched Håkon flee, slithering as fast as he could go.
From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
