let slip
Idioms-
Also, ; let slide . Miss an opportunity; waste time. For example, We forgot to buy a ticket and let our big chance slip by , or He let the whole day slide by . The first term dates from the mid-1500s, the variant from the late 1500s.
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Also, let slip out . Reveal something, usually inadvertently, as in He let it slip out that he had applied for the vacant position . [Mid-1800s]
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let slip through one's fingers . Fail to seize an opportunity, as in We could have won the trophy but we let it slip through our fingers . [First half of 1600s]
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.
When one Artemis II crew member let slip in a press conference that he was bringing an iPhone to get mesmerizing photos of Earth, he caught himself.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026
All the while, SpaceX apparently let slip its obligations to NASA’s moon effort.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 15, 2026
Knowing that handing off the mantle to any of these soft-bellied siblings meant dooming his life’s work, Roy let slip one of the most devastating parental assessments ever captured on television.
From Salon • Dec. 9, 2025
But later, in a discussion about her role in helping to pass the Welsh government's budget last month, she perhaps let slip the sort of numbers the Lib Dems were looking at.
From BBC • Apr. 3, 2025
I was so stunned that I almost missed what he’d let slip.
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
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.
