🚗 Streamlined shape 🕴️ Stylish and neat 💇 Smooth and shiny 🧴 To make smooth

to sleek

1 4.3

To make something smooth and shiny by brushing or pressing

verb
/sliːk/

: alisar

Fergus pricks up and runs ahead; the pond water that had sleeked back his fur sprays out all around him in small, sunlit beads.
sleek her hair
sleek back

Examples

Rain had sleeked her T-shirt to her skin, and each breath was a brief-lived heartache; so cold was the air, so charged with ozone.

Fiction book (1993)
Her hair today was sleeked back and tied with a leopard-printed chiffon scarf.

Fiction book (1998)
His hair is sleeked with oil and centrally parted.

Fiction book (2001)
His eyes were glassy and open in death; his thinned grey hair sleeked back off his forehead.

Fiction book (2000)
She slid her granny glasses up the bridge of her nose, sleeked her long hair back, and ripped it open.

Fiction book (1995)
Then he saw her, standing on a tiny balcony, her glossy, mink-colored hair sleeked back and haloed in the sunlight, her face aloof and unreadable from so far away.

Fiction book (1999)
She sleked her hair back for the party, giving it a shiny and polished look.
He carefully sleked the surface of the wood with a cloth until it gleamed.
Before the photo shoot, the stylist sleked the model's hair, ensuring it looked smooth and neat.

Synonyms

to smooth

vsto sleek

54 1.1

To make a surface even by rubbing or pressing

adds the idea of neat glossy finish created by brushing or stroking

to polish

vsto sleek

46 1.1

To make something smooth and shiny by rubbing it

also covers smoothing by brushing and neat finishing strokes

to slick

vsto sleek

18 5.0

To make something smooth and shiny by rubbing or adding oil

focuses on smoothing and neat glossy finish without adding slippery substances

to buff

vsto sleek

17 4.4

To polish something by rubbing until it is smooth or shiny

adds the idea of neatness achieved by brushing or stroking actions

to gloss

vsto sleek

1 4.0

To make a surface smooth and shiny by rubbing or polishing

includes neatness and smoothing from brushing or pressing as well

to slick down

vsto sleek

1 5.8

To make a surface such as hair smooth and shiny by using a product or pushing it flat

focuses more on brushing or stroking than on added substances

to furbish

vsto sleek

Archaic

1 9.2

To make something shiny by rubbing

stresses smoothing by brushing, stroking, or pressing rather than general renewal

to sleek down

vsto sleek

5.8

To make hair smooth and shiny by pressing it or using a little gel

is the general action for any surface using brushing or stroking

to smoothen

vsto sleek

4.3

To make a surface flat and even by rubbing or polishing

emphasizes a deliberate brushing or stroking action rather than natural change

to slicker

vsto sleek

5.1

To make something smooth and shiny by rubbing or polishing

has a broader sense including simple smoothing by stroking or pressing

Antonyms

to mess up

Informal

52 3.0

To make something untidy, dirty, or not in the right place

to roughen

2 4.2

To make a surface not smooth so it feels bumpy

Phrasal Verbs

to sleek down

5.8

To make hair smooth and shiny by pressing it or using a little gel

Compounds

sleek look

1 3.5

A smooth, shiny, stylish appearance for hair or clothes

sleek dress

3.4

A smooth, close-fitting outfit that looks elegant and modern

How Smooth

to sleek

1 4.3

to buff

17 4.4

smooth

1 5.8

to wipe

531 1.0

Surface Forms

sleek infinitive

sleeked past

sleeked past participle

sneaking present participle

sleeps third person singular

Etymology

Sleek as a verb means 'to make smooth' — to brush or stroke something so it becomes glossy and neat.