sleek
1 Americanadjective
-
sleeker,
comparative
-
sleekest
superlative
-
smooth or glossy, as hair, an animal, etc.
-
well-fed or well-groomed.
-
trim and graceful; finely contoured; streamlined.
a sleek sports car.
-
smooth in manners, speech, etc.; suave.
-
cleverly or deceitfully skillful; slick.
a sleek confidence man.
verb (used with object)
-
sleeks,
present (3rd person singular)
-
sleeked,
past participle, past
-
sleeking
present participle
adjective
-
smooth and shiny; polished
-
polished in speech or behaviour; unctuous
-
(of an animal or bird) having a shiny healthy coat or feathers
-
(of a person) having a prosperous appearance
verb
-
to make smooth and glossy, as by grooming, etc
-
(usually foll by over) to cover (up), as by making more agreeable; gloss (over)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
sleeksimple
-
sleekssimple
-
have sleekedperfect
-
has sleekedperfect
-
am sleekingprogressive
-
are sleekingprogressive
-
is sleekingprogressive
-
have been sleekingperfect progressive
-
has been sleekingperfect progressive
Past
-
sleekedsimple
-
had sleekedperfect
-
was sleekingprogressive
-
were sleekingprogressive
-
had been sleekingperfect progressive
Future
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
Explanation
If your hair is sleek, it is smooth and glossy. If your car is sleek, it's shiny and looks like it goes fast. Sleek always means smooth, glossy, and streamlined. Sleek is a variant of the word, slick. When you slick back your hair with grease, it becomes sleek. Cats are often called sleek with their silky coats and lithe movements. A dress could be described as sleek, if it fits tightly to your body and makes you look polished and perfectly fit. When something is sleek, it's aerodynamic.
Vocabulary lists containing sleek
Mr. Popper’s Penguins
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Rebound
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
"The Tragedy of Macbeth," Vocabulary from Act 3
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
With a color palette of white, gray, and black, the eye-catching space features wood beams, walls of glass, and a sleek kitchen with three islands.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 19, 2026
He hired a student employee and found a sleek, glass office space outside Glasgow - which he quickly discovered wasn't entirely suited to an engineer and his tools.
From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026
The sleek white sports car drove upside down, thrust itself into the air and performed a flip over a lineup of other Tesla vehicles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026
On the north side of the peninsula, Paradise Bay is home to a cluster of high-end resorts that can be reached by sleek, private water taxis.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
It was sleek, with tinted windows and a matte black paint job.
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
Following the dotted lines of a typical front-wheel-drive liftback sedan and draped in some desultory sheet metal, the S5 is no lower, sleeker or more emotionally compelling than the mean-average.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2026
It is primarily composed of concrete streets, old family-run stores, and a massive influx of newer, sleeker businesses with scrawled cursive logos and $7 drinks.
From Slate ● Sep. 6, 2026
South Korean technology giant Samsung unveiled new, sleeker smartphone models Wednesday priced more than previous models as artificial intelligence raises component costs.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
They are sleeker, have longer-lasting batteries and are increasingly screenless.
From MarketWatch ● May 28, 2026
Looking round the little group that gathered on the grass, Hazel saw that all of them—even Holly—were looking stronger, sleeker and in better shape than when they had first come to the down.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
John Dowie was described in accounts as "the sleekest and kindest of landlords".
From BBC ● Nov. 30, 2024
These aren’t the sleekest wearables on the market, but they’re not a crime against fashion either.
From The Verge ● Jun. 17, 2022
Even the sleekest shows require constant maintenance under the hood.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 1, 2015
Browning whipped up this year's edition of the annual tour of figure skating and ice-dancing champs into one of the sleekest, smoothest shows in years for the franchise.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 27, 2012
Oh, he would rather houseless roam Where Freedom and his God may lead, Than be the sleekest slave at home That crouches to the conqueror's creed!
From The Complete Poems of Sir Thomas Moore Collected by Himself with Explanatory Notes by William Michael Rossetti
A final finishing dollop of aioli swirled into the al dente rice sleeks it with satiny richness.
From New York Times ● Dec. 19, 2019
His eye burns deep, his tail is arched, And streams upon the shadowy air, The daylight sleeks his jetty flanks, His mistress' hair.
From Collected Poems 1901-1918 in Two Volumes Volume II. by Walter De la Mare
Vanity is to a man what the oily secretion is to a bird, with which it sleeks and adjusts the plumage ruffled by whatever causes.
From Dreamthorp A Book of Essays Written in the Country by Alexander Smith
Through the grass and the flowers came the evil trail, turning from time to time its head to its back, licking like a beast that sleeks itself.
From Divine Comedy, Norton's Translation, Purgatory by Charles Eliot Norton
The true adjective clause is “sleeking ... locks” = with which she sleeks, etc.; and the true participial clause is “she sits ... rocks” = seated on ... rocks.
From Milton's Comus by William Bell
Takisha Sturdivant-Drew sleeked Kerry Washington’s coat; and Amy Adams, Naomi Campbell, and Heidi Klum, who was coiffed by Andy Lecompte, joined her with forays into flattening.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 9, 2017
He sleeked his hair, put on spats, became meticulous about his clothes.
From Time Magazine Archive
From western ranges, where the feed is scanty, cattle are moving by the hungry thousands to corn-rich Missouri, Iowa and eastern Kansas, there to be stuffed and sleeked for market.
From Time Magazine Archive
It was so very stale, the hotel business, with the moonlight river excursions and the Livingstone trips, far too much sleeked and smoothed by foresight, and tamed by taking of thought.
From Cinderella in the South Twenty-Five South African Tales by Arthur Shearly Cripps
Only one came with drooping head and wings, and sleeked itself to his caress, and the Prince, stooping down, whispered in her ear, "O, sister, why did you not peck out my heart?"
From Moonshine & Clover by Laurence Housman
It began sleeking its long yellow hair, which fell over its shoulders; its eyes were not turned toward me, but to the door; it seemed listening, watching, waiting.
From The Boy Scouts Book of Stories by Walt Louderback
Anointed with the sleeking oil there strive our fellows stripped In wrestling game of fatherland: it joys us to have slipped By such a host of Argive towns amidmost of the foe.
From The Æneids of Virgil Done into English Verse by William Morris
At the risk of her life she dragged him across to the entrance, and sat desolately crumbling away between her fingers such feathers as were singed upon him, and sleeking his long gasping neck.
From The Lady of Fort St. John by Mary Hartwell Catherwood
It began sleeking its long, yellow hair, which fell over its shoulders; its eyes were not turned toward me, but to the door; it seemed listening, watching, waiting.
From The Lock and Key Library Classic Mystery and Detective Stories: Old Time English by Julian Hawthorne
But the Midden was now rocking and floating on the shadowy water, her bright hair sleeking the stream behind her.
From The Three Mulla-mulgars by Walter De la Mare
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
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.
