smooth
- free from projections or unevenness of surface; not rough: smooth wood; a smooth road.
- generally flat or unruffled, as a calm sea.
- free from hairs or a hairy growth: a smooth cheek.
- of uniform consistency; free from lumps, as a batter, sauce, etc.
- free from or proceeding without abrupt curves, bends, etc.: a smooth ride.
- allowing or having an even, uninterrupted movement or flow: smooth driving.
- easy and uniform, as motion or the working of a machine.
- having projections worn away: a smooth tire casing.
- free from hindrances or difficulties: a smooth day at the office.
- noting a metal file having the minimum commercial grade of coarseness for a single-cut file.Compare dead-smooth.
- undisturbed, tranquil, or equable, as the feelings, temper, etc.; serene: a smooth disposition.
- elegant, easy, or polished: smooth manners.
- ingratiatingly polite or suave: That salesman is a smooth talker.
- free from harshness, sharpness, or bite; bland or mellow, as cheese or wine.
- not harsh to the ear, as sound: the smooth music of a ballroom dance band.
- Phonetics. without aspiration.
- in a smooth manner; smoothly.
- to make smooth of surface, as by scraping, planing, or pressing.
- to remove (projections, ridges, wrinkles, etc.) in making something smooth (often followed by away or out).
- to free from difficulties.
- to remove (obstacles) from a path (often followed by away).
- to make more polished, elegant, or agreeable, as wording or manners.
- to tranquilize, calm, or soothe (a person, the feelings, etc.).
- Mathematics. to simplify (an expression) by substituting approximate or certain known values for the variables.
- act of smoothing: She adjusted the folds with a smooth of her hand.
- something that is smooth; a smooth part or place: through the rough and the smooth.
- smooth over, to make seem less severe, disagreeable, or irreconcilable; allay; mitigate: He smoothed over my disappointment with kind words.
Origin of smooth
Synonyms for smooth
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comExamples from the Web for smoothly
Contemporary Examples of smoothly
And George Herbert Walker Bush for smoothly overseeing the end of the Cold War.
Until recently, Rice was smoothly on track to become the Edmund Hillary of foreign-policy strivers.
Former Moral Majoritarian Ralph Reed smoothly explained how.
Will the project live up to its apocalyptic name—or go as smoothly as the first Carmageddon 14 months ago?
But her first run didn't quite go as smoothly as her teammates had hoped.
Historical Examples of smoothly
Presently she reappeared, and with her, smoothly talking her down, came the young man.
Meadow GrassAlice Brown
It doesn't strike you that they went off a little too smoothly, does it?'
A Woman IntervenesRobert Barr
This was a wide stream, smoothly hurrying, without rapids or tumult.
The ForestStewart Edward White
Then mix it smoothly with the yeast, and stir it into the household flour.
The Skilful CookMary Harrison
His garments clung as tightly and smoothly as if he had been kneaded into them—as, indeed, he had.
The Strolling SaintRaphael Sabatini
smooth
- resting in the same plane; without bends or irregularities
- silky to the touchsmooth velvet
- lacking roughness of surface; flat
- tranquil or unruffledsmooth temper
- lacking obstructions or difficulties
- suave or persuasive, esp as suggestive of insincerity
- (in combination)smooth-tongued
- (of the skin) free from hair
- of uniform consistencysmooth batter
- not erratic; free from joltssmooth driving
- not harsh or astringenta smooth wine
- having all projections worn awaysmooth tyres
- maths (of a curve) differentiable at every point
- phonetics without preliminary or simultaneous aspiration
- gentle to the ear; flowing
- physics (of a plane, surface, etc) regarded as being frictionless
- in a calm or even manner; smoothly
- (also intr often foll by down) to make or become flattened or without roughness or obstructions
- (often foll by out or away) to take or rub (away) in order to make smoothshe smoothed out the creases in her dress
- to make calm; soothe
- to make easiersmooth his path
- electrical engineering to remove alternating current ripple from the output of a direct current power supply
- obsolete to make more polished or refined
- the smooth part of something
- the act of smoothing
- tennis squash badminton the side of a racket on which the binding strings form a continuous lineCompare rough (def. 27)
Word Origin for smooth
Word Origin and History for smoothly
smooth
Old English smoð "smooth, serene, calm," variant of smeðe "free from roughness, not harsh, polished; soft; suave; agreeable," of unknown origin and with no known cognates. Of words, looks, "pleasant, polite, sincere" late 14c., but later "flattering, insinuating" (mid-15c.). Slang meaning "superior, classy, clever" is attested from 1893. Sense of "stylish" is from 1922.
Smooth-bore in reference to guns is from 1812. smooth talk (v.) is recorded from 1950. A 1599 dictionary has smoothboots "a flatterer, a faire spoken man, a cunning tongued fellow." The usual Old English form was smeðe, and there is a dialectal smeeth found in places names, e.g. Smithfield, Smedley.
smooth
late Old English smoþ "to make smooth," replacing smeðan "to smooth, soften, polish; appease, soothe;" smeðian "smoothen, become smooth," from the source of smooth (adj.). Meaning "to make smooth" is c.1200. Related: Smoothed; smoothing. Middle English also had a verb form smoothen (mid-14c.).
Idioms and Phrases with smoothly
smooth
In addition to the idioms beginning with smooth
- smooth as silk
- smooth over
- smooth sailing
also see:
- take the rough with the smooth