smooth
Americanadjective
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smoother,
comparative
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smoothest
superlative
-
free from projections or unevenness of surface; not rough.
smooth wood; a smooth road.
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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.
-
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.
adverb
verb (used with object)
-
smooths,
present (3rd person singular)
-
smoothed,
past participle, past
-
smoothing
present participle
-
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 orout ).
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to free from difficulties.
-
to remove (obstacles) from a path (often followed byaway ).
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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.
noun
-
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.
verb phrase
adjective
-
resting in the same plane; without bends or irregularities
-
silky to the touch
smooth velvet
-
lacking roughness of surface; flat
-
tranquil or unruffled
smooth 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 consistency
smooth batter
-
not erratic; free from jolts
smooth driving
-
not harsh or astringent
a smooth wine
-
having all projections worn away
smooth 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
adverb
verb
-
to make or become flattened or without roughness or obstructions
-
to take or rub (away) in order to make smooth
she smoothed out the creases in her dress
-
to make calm; soothe
-
to make easier
smooth 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
noun
-
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 line Compare rough
Synonym Usage
See level.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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oversmoothnessnoun
-
smoothernoun
-
smoothnessnoun
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unsmoothnessnoun
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presmoothverb (used with object)
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resmoothverb (used with object)
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oversmoothadjective
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smoothableadjective
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unsmoothadjective
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unsmoothedadjective
-
oversmoothlyadverb
-
smoothlyadverb
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unsmoothlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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smoothsimple
-
smoothssimple
-
have smoothedperfect
-
has smoothedperfect
-
am smoothingprogressive
-
are smoothingprogressive
-
is smoothingprogressive
-
have been smoothingperfect progressive
-
has been smoothingperfect progressive
Past
-
smoothedsimple
-
had smoothedperfect
-
was smoothingprogressive
-
were smoothingprogressive
-
had been smoothingperfect progressive
Future
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
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.
Vocabulary lists containing smooth
Mellow Out: Synonyms for "Calm"
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Unit 4: Powerful Openings
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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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:
Instead of the relatively smooth terrain that earlier observations had suggested, the spacecraft found a rugged landscape dominated by enormous boulders, with very few areas suitable for collecting samples.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 20, 2026
His job was ensuring commanders had smooth communication with their units and access to feeds from reconnaissance drones and surveillance cameras.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Lacking fingers with flexible joints, the robot’s grippers had difficulty getting traction on the smooth surface of the glass.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
There was always something going whether it was smooth talking or trying to be funny, but I think stand-up taught me how to be quiet.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026
Nim whispered as Chica pushed sand back into the hole, rocking her heavy body back and forth till the sand was thumped hard and smooth.
From "Nim’s Island" by Wendy Orr
Controller in hand, the game also feels much smoother.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
Had Ratan Tata overseen the succession himself, the transition would have been smoother, he says.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
The Griffith Park carousel has one speed — 14 mph — and the hope is to update it with some modern controls to create a smoother ride.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026
Coca-Cola technicians secretly concocted a sweeter, smoother cola.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
Her skin is cool to the touch and much smoother than I would’ve thought.
From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas
“SPR releases go the smoothest when you can release something very close to what’s been lost,” said Andrew Harbourne, analyst at Wood Mackenzie.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 9, 2026
Your Party has not got off to the smoothest of starts.
From BBC ● Nov. 30, 2025
But it hasn’t always been the smoothest ride.
From Barron's ● Nov. 21, 2025
“Not the smoothest of rides to get here,” first baseman Freddie Feeman added.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2025
“He was the smoothest man I ever saw,” said C. E. Davis, whom Holmes had hired to manage the drugstore’s jewelry counter.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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
In this cosmic battle, dark energy appears to be winning — expanding our universe over trillions of years until everything thins and smooths out into almost nothingness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
The language smooths out, the argument grows more confident, and the hesitation fades.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026
It smooths out the noise and highlights the true character of the stock.
From Barron's ● Dec. 4, 2025
Nate pulls a piece of paper from his pocket and smooths it out on his thigh.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
Some of the rifts can't easily be smoothed over.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026
Over the course of four minutes, the robot fumbled with the towel’s floppy and unwieldy shape as it slowly smoothed out the fabric, located the corners and lined up the edges.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
Her overseas posting and relocation were smoothed by $1.2 million in perks, covering housing-related costs, lease termination, tuition, tax prep and other benefits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 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
She smoothed out the wrinkles in her not-at-all-like-Mom blouse and gray skirt.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
“As researchers, we think about smoothing consumption,” said Greig.
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
She says processing her feelings first and then smoothing out the language teed her up for a more productive dialogue with the recipient.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
During the album’s rollout, the pop star’s visage was perfected with the help of some uncanny AI smoothing, while her accompanying “Confessions II” short film featured a team of AI artists in the credits.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
Several writers had provided stories for the ambitious outline, and William Faulkner had the tough job of smoothing out its clunky transitions and pulling the whole thing together.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
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