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Glite Dictionary
🐟 Slippery 🫥 Evasive
eely

eely

9.1
Slippery and hard to hold like a wet fish
  • adjective
  • /ˈiːli/
translation icon : resbaladizo
  • The soap became so eely that I could barely keep it in my hand.

Examples

  • He gave an eely handshake that made me laugh.

  • The eely fish slipped through my fingers.

  • The politician was eely when answering difficult questions, always avoiding a direct response.

  • Why is this surface so eely?

  • The soap became so eely that I could barely keep it in my hand.

  • Why is this surface so eely and hard to grip?

  • The fish was so eely that it slipped right out of my hands.

Synonyms

slimy
vseely
42 2.5

Covered in a wet, slippery layer, like on fish or rocks

is slippery by being hard to hold not mainly wet and sticky
slithery
vseely
1 4.4

A surface or thing that is smooth and slippery and lets things slide easily

is slippery so it is hard to hold rather than merely smooth

How Slippery

slick
8 5.8
eely
9.1
slippery
80 1.0
slimy
42 2.5
oily
38 1.0

Surface Forms

eely positive

Morphology

eely = eel (transparent) = eel + y

Direct adjectival formation from 'eel' + '-y' yields 'having qualities of an eel' and the meaning 'slippery' is literal and immediately inferable.

Etymology

Eely comes from eel, a long slippery fish, plus the small ending -y that means 'like' or 'full of'. So something eely is 'like an eel' — slippery and hard to hold.