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
Synonym Usage
See fluent.
Other Word Forms
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
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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:
Overly glib or sarcastic messages can get you into trouble, even if they are funny, reckons Paul Fitzsimmons, head of sales and marketing at law firm Wilford Smith.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
But “Miss You, Love You”—the kind of glib phone text that figures so prominently here—isn’t quite that kind of production.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
The former college quarterback is glib, quick on his feet and meticulously organized.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2026
Mr. Buruma resists glib post hoc censure, acknowledging that German civilians “lived in constant fear of their own government.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 13, 2026
Geyer found Holmes to be smooth and glib, a social chameleon.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
The comic is rife with details that will be familiar to even the most casual admirers of older, glibber incarnations of the Flintstones.
From Slate ● Apr. 12, 2017
Children of the U. S. can count glibly, "five pennies are a nickel, two nickels are a dime;" but children of the Irish Free State must become even glibber.
From Time Magazine Archive
Kaye is not naturally funny but more of a stunt-man of humor who relies on glib footwork, a glibber tongue and a foxy aptitude for facial contortions.
From Time Magazine Archive
I don't say I became glib at this juncture, but I certainly became a dashed glibber than I had been.
From Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. (Pelham Grenville) Wodehouse
William couldna endure the cratur, and mony a sair wrangle they had wi' the tongue; but the Englishman's was by far the glibber, though William's was the weightier.
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 13 by Various
Raftery is one of TV sport’s glibbest analysts and there are dictionaries to explain his catchphrases.
From Washington Times ● May 19, 2017
That essay—by far the glibbest text I've ever written—chided American diplomats for not exploiting the immense digital soft power that a company like Amazon had to offer.
From Slate ● Jun. 21, 2012
And her gravelly, skeptical voice lends conviction to even the glibbest one-liners.
From New York Times ● May 20, 2010
The glibbest was Hesketh Pearson's quick look at Disraeli in Dizzy.
From Time Magazine Archive
I was supposed to be the glibbest of speech of our party, and up I got.
From Fifty Years of Railway Life in England, Scotland and Ireland by Joseph Tatlow
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
