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Synonyms

sleek

1 American  
[sleek] / slik /

adjective

sleeker, sleekest

  1. smooth or glossy, as hair, an animal, etc.

  2. well-fed or well-groomed.

  3. trim and graceful; finely contoured; streamlined.

    a sleek sports car.

  4. smooth in manners, speech, etc.; suave.

  5. cleverly or deceitfully skillful; slick.

    a sleek confidence man.
    Synonyms:
    slippery, shady, glib, shrewd, artful, smooth, refined, polished
sleek 2 American  
[sleek] / slik /
Also sleeken

verb (used with object)

  1. to make sleek; smooth; slick.

    to sleek leather.
sleek British  
/ sliːk /

adjective

  1. smooth and shiny; polished

  2. polished in speech or behaviour; unctuous

  3. (of an animal or bird) having a shiny healthy coat or feathers

  4. (of a person) having a prosperous appearance

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. to make smooth and glossy, as by grooming, etc

  2. (usually foll by over) to cover (up), as by making more agreeable; gloss (over)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • sleeker noun
  • sleekly adverb
  • sleekness noun
  • sleeky adjective

Etymology

Origin of sleek1

First recorded in 1580–90; variant of slick

Origin of sleek2

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English sleken, variant of slick

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.

An Italian entrepreneur spent $50,000 turning a 130-square-foot space into a sleek, social cooking hub.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026

It looked incredible to my 20-year-old mind: sleek, uniform, very put-together.

From Salon • Mar. 19, 2026

Sinners star Li Jun Li turned heads in a sleek swirled Gaurav Gupta creation.

From BBC • Mar. 15, 2026

Ukraine's newly installed defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov waltzed on stage like a stand-up comedian to take the mic in front of journalists in Kyiv as a sleek slideshow zoomed across a map of the country.

From Barron's • Mar. 12, 2026

They had brought scraps from garbage pails and even tidbits from their own scanty plates smuggled past watchful mothers, and Mr. Hashbaz had remained sleek and fat.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

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.