slipper
1 Americannoun
verb (used with object)
adjective
noun
-
a light shoe of some soft material, for wearing around the house
-
a woman's evening or dancing shoe
-
informal cricket a fielder in the slip position
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of slipper1
First recorded in 1470–80; slip 1 + -er 1
Origin of slipper2
before 1000; Middle English sliper, Old English slipor; see slippery
Explanation
A slipper is a kind of indoor shoe that slips easily on and off your foot. You may prefer to walk around barefoot unless it's really cold, in which case you wear slippers. Slippers are cozy, and they're often warm too. A more old fashioned kind of slipper was a dress shoe that slipped on the foot, rather than being buckled or buttoned—like Cinderella's glass slipper. The word comes from the fact that you can slip a slipper on or off easily. It's related to the Old English slypescoh, literally "slip-shoe."
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:
The coachman produced a pink box with a glass slipper inside, telling them: "I've come to find a princess."
From Barron's ● Feb. 12, 2026
For all its muddy cultural avenues left unexplored, though, it at least provides a slipper view of the ways the show represented “the inception of American shock culture,” as one producer accurately describes it.
From Salon ● Jan. 7, 2025
It is hard to have a different slipper after you wear them.
From New York Times ● Nov. 23, 2024
Spiny and slipper lobsters, particularly targeted to supply more tourist-intensive islands, were also considered depleted.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 16, 2024
Perhaps we had become a little arrogant with our fine new technique of ice-claw and rubber slipper, our age of easy mechanical conquest.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
Drop too many heavy-hitters at once, and the viewer will be dizzy in seconds, watching cartoon ruby slippers dance in a circle around their head.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026
And so Washington’s authority was solidified when Lee, clad in a shirt and slippers, was surprised in a New Jersey tavern and captured.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
AFP previously investigated a multilingual trend of videos stealing seniors’ identities to bait users into sympathetic purchases of slippers and dog collars.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
Blunt, meanwhile, said returning to her iconic role as Emily "was effortless - like a comfortable pair of old slippers".
From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2026
I step into my slippers and twist my doorknob; it’s not locked anymore.
From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas
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.
