smooth

American  

[smooth] / smuð /

adjective

• smoother,
  comparative
• smoothest
  superlative

1. free from projections or unevenness of surface; not rough.

   smooth wood; a smooth road.

   Synonyms:

   flat, even, polished, glossy

2. generally flat or unruffled, as a calm sea.

3. free from hairs or a hairy growth.

   a smooth cheek.

4. of uniform consistency; free from lumps, as a batter, sauce, etc.

5. free from or proceeding without abrupt curves, bends, etc..

   a smooth ride.

6. allowing or having an even, uninterrupted movement or flow.

   smooth driving.

7. easy and uniform, as motion or the working of a machine.

8. having projections worn away.

   a smooth tire casing.

9. free from hindrances or difficulties.

   a smooth day at the office.

10. noting a metal file having the minimum commercial grade of coarseness for a single-cut file.

11. undisturbed, tranquil, or equable, as the feelings, temper, etc.; serene.

    a smooth disposition.

12. elegant, easy, or polished.

    smooth manners.

13. ingratiatingly polite or suave.

    That salesman is a smooth talker.

14. free from harshness, sharpness, or bite; bland or mellow, as cheese or wine.

15. not harsh to the ear, as sound.

    the smooth music of a ballroom dance band.

16. Phonetics. without aspiration.

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adverb

1. in a smooth manner; smoothly.

verb (used with object)

• smooths,
  present (3rd person singular)
• smoothed,
  past participle,  past
• smoothing
  present participle

1. to make smooth of surface, as by scraping, planing, or pressing.

2. to remove (projections, ridges, wrinkles, etc.) in making something smooth (often followed by away orout ).

3. to free from difficulties.

4. to remove (obstacles) from a path (often followed byaway ).

5. to make more polished, elegant, or agreeable, as wording or manners.

6. to tranquilize, calm, or soothe (a person, the feelings, etc.).

7. Mathematics. to simplify (an expression) by substituting approximate or certain known values for the variables.

noun

1. act of smoothing.

   She adjusted the folds with a smooth of her hand.

2. something that is smooth; a smooth part or place.

   through the rough and the smooth.

verb phrase

1. smooth over to make seem less severe, disagreeable, or irreconcilable; allay; mitigate.

   He smoothed over my disappointment with kind words.

smooth British  

/ smuːð /

adjective

1. resting in the same plane; without bends or irregularities

2. silky to the touch

   smooth velvet

3. lacking roughness of surface; flat

4. tranquil or unruffled

   smooth temper

5. lacking obstructions or difficulties

6. 1. suave or persuasive, esp as suggestive of insincerity

   2. ( in combination )

      smooth-tongued

7. (of the skin) free from hair

8. of uniform consistency

   smooth batter

9. not erratic; free from jolts

   smooth driving

10. not harsh or astringent

    a smooth wine

11. having all projections worn away

    smooth tyres

12. maths (of a curve) differentiable at every point

13. phonetics without preliminary or simultaneous aspiration

14. gentle to the ear; flowing

15. physics (of a plane, surface, etc) regarded as being frictionless

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adverb

1. in a calm or even manner; smoothly

verb

1. to make or become flattened or without roughness or obstructions

2. to take or rub (away) in order to make smooth

   she smoothed out the creases in her dress

3. to make calm; soothe

4. to make easier

   smooth his path

5. electrical engineering to remove alternating current ripple from the output of a direct current power supply

6. obsolete to make more polished or refined

noun

1. the smooth part of something

2. the act of smoothing

3. tennis squash badminton the side of a racket on which the binding strings form a continuous line Compare rough

smooth Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing smooth

• take the rough with the smooth

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Synonym Usage

See level.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• oversmoothness
  noun
• smoother
  noun
• smoothness
  noun
• unsmoothness
  noun
• presmooth
  verb (used with object)
• resmooth
  verb (used with object)
• oversmooth
  adjective
• smoothable
  adjective
• unsmooth
  adjective
• unsmoothed
  adjective
• oversmoothly
  adverb
• smoothly
  adverb
• unsmoothly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Adjectives

• smoother
  comparative
• smoothest
  superlative

Participles

• smoothing
  present
• smoothed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• smooth
  simple
• smooths
  simple
• have smoothed
  perfect
• has smoothed
  perfect
• am smoothing
  progressive
• are smoothing
  progressive
• is smoothing
  progressive
• have been smoothing
  perfect progressive
• has been smoothing
  perfect progressive

Past

• smoothed
  simple
• had smoothed
  perfect
• was smoothing
  progressive
• were smoothing
  progressive
• had been smoothing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will smooth
  simple
• will have smoothed
  perfect
• will be smoothing
  progressive
• will have been smoothing
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of smooth

First recorded before 1050; (adjective) Middle English smothe, late Old English smōth; compare Middle English smethe, Old English smēthe “smooth”; cognate with Old Saxon smōthi; (verb) late Middle English smothen, derivative of the adjective; replacing Middle English smethen, Old English smēth(i)an

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Explanation

Something smooth is free of roughness, stubble, or other imperfections that you can feel with your hands. If your wooden table is giving you splinters, use a sander to smooth it down and make it smooth. As you can see, smooth works as both a verb and an adjective. Smooth has lots of interesting uses: Caught in a wind storm? Better smooth out your hair when you head inside. Got a friend who's good with the ladies? Try imitating his smooth moves. Need help to smooth out a dispute between two friends? Invite them out for coffee and offer to help them smooth out their differences. Some pianists prefer ivory keys to plastic because they're less smooth, and their fingers don't slip. The best dancers can move smoothly from one move to another.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

smooth smoother smoothest smooths smoothed smoothing

Still, Reese’s road to the finals hasn’t been entirely smooth.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

If you are in a low tax bracket after retirement and you are already 59½, it can help smooth your taxes if you start with those pretax funds first.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026

China is its neighbour's largest trading partner and a vital diplomatic and political backer, although relations have not always been smooth with the ruling Kim dynasty.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026

The condition gradually damages cartilage, the smooth, protective tissue that cushions the ends of bones and allows joints to move with minimal friction.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2026

I paused in the stairwell to smooth my dress, my hair, my face.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

Controller in hand, the game also feels much smoother.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026

This pattern is consistent with a smoother progression into deeper stages of sleep.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026

In a statement, DfT said journeys on the new fleet would be "quieter, smoother and more reliable", while offering "improved accessibility, more luggage space and onboard Wi-Fi".

From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026

Coca-Cola technicians secretly concocted a sweeter, smoother cola.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026

Eager, a little scared, they did not even nap during the fourteen hours of a ride smoother than a rocking cradle.

From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison

Heidi Alexander and Apostolos Tzitzikostas agreed to "work together with aim for smoothest possible EES checks ahead of the busy summer period", the UK government said.

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

Even at the Carpenters’ smoothest, I hear deep sadness in Karen’s singing.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026

But it hasn’t always been the smoothest ride.

From Barron's ● Nov. 21, 2025

Despite spending somewhere close to $650 million to assemble their rosters, the two most prestigious franchises in Major League Baseball didn’t exactly have the smoothest summers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2025

But he'd also vowed to make this the smoothest presidential transition in history, instructing every department in the executive branch to prepare briefing binders for the incoming administration.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

These include having software that smooths out rapid acceleration, adding sound systems and subtle seat vibrations to signal to passengers that the car is moving, and offering adaptive regenerative braking that reduces sudden deceleration.

From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026

The dynamism of the singing and dancing smooths out some of the adaptation’s rough edges.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2026

The language smooths out, the argument grows more confident, and the hesitation fades.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026

This smooths out optical distortions while avoiding extra noise that could be mistaken for real gravitational-wave signals.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 4, 2025

He straightens and smooths his hair back into place over his head, and his eyes lock on mine.

From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam

Politically strong, he smoothed relations around former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger's attempt to gain support for a World Cup every two years, and has never truly bought into the idea of a 64-team tournament.

From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026

What we’re likely to be left with is an adaptation that hits all of the beats of the hundreds of motion picture takes on the story with all of their charms and idiosyncrasies smoothed away.

From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026

The report may have smoothed over some frayed nerves about artificial intelligence coming for jobs.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 5, 2026

"What used to look like a single structure now resolves into many, and details that were smoothed away before, are now clearly visible."

From Science Daily ● May 12, 2026

Clare smoothed her mantle like nothing had even happened.

From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton

The fourth option was the optimal smoothing that economists propose.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026

Team boss Frederic Vasseur, who said he would talk to the drivers before discussing this in the media, has some smoothing out to do before this weekend's race in Madrid.

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026

In its sleep lab, electrodes measured my brain waves, which first appeared as spiky waveforms before smoothing during deep or “slow wave” sleep.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026

In December, the Albanian government grants a "strategic investor" status to a company linked to Kushner, smoothing the project's path.

From Barron's ● Jun. 15, 2026

I flipped open my compact, smoothing down my edges and slicking on another layer of clear cherry lip gloss.

From "Monday's Not Coming" by Tiffany D. Jackson

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Related Words

• continuous
• creamy
• easy
• effortless
• flat
• fluid
• gentle
• glossy
• mild
• peaceful
• polished
• quiet
• serene
• shiny
• silky
• sleek
• soft
• stable
• steady
• tranquil

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