glib
Americanadjective
-
readily fluent, often thoughtlessly, superficially, or insincerely so.
a glib talker; glib answers.
- Synonyms:
- smooth, facile, loquacious, talkative
-
easy or unconstrained, as actions or manners.
-
Archaic. agile; spry.
adjective
Related Words
See fluent.
Other Word Forms
- glibly adverb
- glibness noun
- unglib adjective
Etymology
Origin of glib
First recorded in 1585–95; compare obsolete glibbery “slippery” (cognate with Dutch glibberig )
Explanation
A hiring manager might think you're being glib, or slick and insincere, if you say you've led a successful multinational corporation when you were actually in charge of flipping burgers for a fast-food restaurant chain. The word glib might be used to describe the slick car salesman who uses his polished sales pitch to talk his customers into buying lemons. In fact, the word comes from old German and Dutch words for "slippery," another word that could be used to describe the very same salesman. In addition to meaning "smooth" and "persuasive," glib can be applied to the kind of thoughtless comment that could get you into big trouble.
Vocabulary lists containing glib
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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100 Words to Make You Sound Smart
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "G"
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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.
So for his children not to show up in any way, and to be glib about his experience, is, well, a choice.
From MarketWatch • Jan. 22, 2026
Mr. Braude is suitably critical of his subject for her sometimes glib approach to life-and-death matters, and he pegs her appeal as “delivering hard news as if it was light gossip.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 19, 2026
Max Mutchnick and David Kohan co-created “Mid-Century Modern,” and its comedic timing and glib patter are reminiscent of their previous and more famous collaboration, “Will & Grace.”
From Salon • May 29, 2025
I am not trying to be glib myself.
From Slate • May 13, 2025
But my glib answer didn’t do justice to the impact the time in his office had had on me.
From "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" by Wes Moore
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.
