glide

American  

[glahyd] / glaɪd /

verb (used without object)

glided, gliding

1. to move smoothly and continuously along, as if without effort or resistance, as a flying bird, a boat, or a skater.

   Synonyms:

   flow

   Antonyms:

   stick

2. to pass by gradual or unobservable change (often followed by along, away, by, etc.).

3. to move quietly or stealthily or without being noticed (usually followed by in, out, along, etc.).

4. Aeronautics.

   1. to move in the air, especially at an easy angle downward, with less engine power than for level flight, solely by the action of air currents and gravity, or by momentum already acquired.

   2. to fly in a glider.

5. Music. to pass from one note to another without a break.

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verb (used with object)

glided, gliding

1. to cause to glide.

noun

1. a gliding movement, as in dancing.

2. a dance marked by such movements.

3. Music. slur.

4. Phonetics.

   1. a speech sound having the characteristics of both a consonant and a vowel, especially w in wore and y in your, and, in some analyses, r in road and l in load; semivowel.

   2. a transitional sound heard during the articulation linking two phonemically contiguous sounds, as the y- sound often heard between the i and e of quiet.

5. a calm stretch of shallow, smoothly flowing water, as in a river.

6. an act or instance of gliding.

7. Metallurgy. slip.

8. a smooth metal plate, as on the bottom of the feet of a chair or table, to facilitate moving and to prevent scarring of floor surfaces.

9. a metal track in which a drawer, shelf, etc., moves in or out.

glide British  

/ ɡlaɪd /

verb

1. to move or cause to move easily without jerks or hesitations

   to glide in a boat down the river

2. (intr) to pass slowly or without perceptible change

   to glide into sleep

3. to cause (an aircraft) to come into land without engine power, or (of an aircraft) to land in this way

4. (intr) to fly a glider

5. (intr) music to execute a portamento from one note to another

6. (intr) phonetics to produce a glide

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noun

1. a smooth easy movement

2. 1. any of various dances featuring gliding steps

   2. a step in such a dance

3. a manoeuvre in which an aircraft makes a gentle descent without engine power See also glide path

4. the act or process of gliding

5. music

   1. a long portion of tubing slipped in and out of a trombone to increase its length for the production of lower harmonic series See also valve

   2. a portamento or slur

6. phonetics

   1. a transitional sound as the speech organs pass from the articulatory position of one speech sound to that of the next, as the ( w ) sound in some pronunciations of the word doing

   2. another word for semivowel

7. crystallog another name for slip 1

8. cricket another word for glance 1

Usage

What does glide mean? To glide is to move smoothly along without effort, as in Ana loved the feeling of just gliding along the ice in her new ice skates. Glide means to move along water or air with little to no effort, as a boat might do in the water. Glide can be used figuratively to mean to proceed through life with little care or effort. People who glide through situations appear to have done nothing to get through, although they may have done something unseen or someone may have done something for them. To glide also means to move quietly or without being noticed, as in Carlos tried to glide by the teacher on duty, but they saw him and told him to go back to class. As a noun, glide refers to a gliding movement, as in dancing. Example: Once you reach the top of the hill, you can just glide all the way down.

Related Words

See slide.

Other Word Forms

• glidingly adverb
• ungliding adjective

Etymology

Origin of glide

First recorded before 900; Middle English gliden (verb), Old English glīdan; cognate with German gleiten

Explanation

To glide is to sail or skate with ease across a surface. Your favorite thing about winter might be watching the skaters in the park glide silently on the ice-covered lake. A sled glides down a snowy hill, and a kayak glides across a silvery pond. Another way to glide is to soar in the air: your paper airplane, if you make it the right way, will glide all the way across the room, and a hawk can glide through the sky without seeming to move its wings. A different kind of glide is linguistic, a sound that's pronounced like a vowel but functions as a consonant.

Example Sentences

Goddesses on roller skates glide in buttery figure eights across the glass-fiber-reinforced concrete.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 14, 2026

Senatorial courtesy seemed as though it would glide Mullin along expeditiously.

From Slate • Mar. 21, 2026

Under normal conditions, the T9SS allows flavobacteria to glide across surfaces.

From Science Daily • Mar. 13, 2026

It is water-repellent and was originally used on sailboats, external to make them glide better before being introduced to skiing in the 1980s.

From BBC • Feb. 10, 2026

We sit in the front seat for a while, watching the headlights of the passing traffic glide into a blur.

From "How It Went Down" by Kekla Magoon

Related Words

• descend
• drift
• flit
• float
• fly
• sail
• skate
• skim
• skip
• slide
• slip
• slither
• soar
• spiral
• waft