pink slip
1 Americannoun
verb (used with object)
noun
Etymology
Origin of pink slip1
First recorded in 1910–15
Origin of pink-slip2
First recorded in 1950–55
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.
The trek to the boss’s office, the tense stares across the desk, the awkward mix of praise and criticism—and the potential for a promotion or a pink slip when it is all over.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 4, 2025
It looks like I’ll be commuting more—but for how long before I, too, get a pink slip without warning or reason?
From Slate • Feb. 3, 2025
“No Highs” is an attempt to give himself a playlist pink slip.
From New York Times • Apr. 25, 2023
So Bill Plaschke has to smear the Bruins’ triumph over hated USC with yet another pink slip?
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 27, 2021
She was wearing her pink slip, and it bore no blooms of blood.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
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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.