Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🤫 To add quietly 🤕 To fall accidentally
to slip in

to slip in

19 4.4
To add a small comment quietly to a conversation or text
  • phrasal verb
  • /slɪp ɪn/
translation icon : colar
  • He managed to slip in a clever joke during the meeting without anyone noticing.
  • just slip in
  • slip in unnoticed
  • slipped it in his pocket

But it does make you wonder if if this is this like an attempt to, you know, slip something in his food or whatever.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • I pushed open the heavy door, thinking to slip in unnoticed and listen from a shadowed corner.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • However, there were so many that she stopped paying attention, and I managed to slip in an exception.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Basically, slip these guys in there, right?

  • But it does make you wonder if if this is this like an attempt to, you know, slip something in his food or whatever.

    Meet Kevin

  • You move them over, you slip in and you do your thing.

  • I'm just gonna slip in here real fast, okay?

    About Cherry (2012)

  • So why do you feel you need to slip in the word "deliberately"?

    Carnage (2011)

  • And you just like pick this up, slip the pod in, so convenient, so easy.

  • I only slipped in one question: "Your mother tried to obliterate me, didn't she?"

    Fiction book (1993)

  • This is Startalk and right now we're slipping in an explainer.

Synonyms

to drop
vsto slip in
  • Informal
313 4.9

To say something casually to give a hint

is more about quietly inserting remarks without drawing attention
to insert
vsto slip in
208 3.5

To put something inside something else

is more casual and unobtrusive compared with this plain introduction
to stick in
vsto slip in
  • Informal
46 4.1

Quickly add a short remark into a talk or conversation

is more deliberately subtle rather than sudden or surprising
to sneak in
vsto slip in
  • Informal
15 3.4

To include something quietly so people do not notice

is used for very subtle casual mentions without drawing notice
to throw in
vsto slip in
  • Informal
14 3.8

Add a short comment during a conversation

is more unobtrusive and less interruptive than that interjection
to insinuate
vsto slip in
8 7.4

To gradually join a group without being noticed

focuses on casual, subtle mention rather than joining a group
to toss in
vsto slip in
  • Informal
7 4.4

To add a short comment during a conversation

is subtler and less obviously incidental than that casual addition

Antonyms

to omit
66 3.4

Leave out something, for example a name, on purpose or by accident

express
13 3.9

Clearly and directly stated without leaving anything unspoken

How Subtle

hint
229 1.5
to slip in
19 4.4
to mention
∞ 1.0
to insert
208 3.5
to announce
∞ 1.5

Surface Forms

slip in infinitive
slipped in past
slipped in past participle
slipping in present participle
slips in third person singular

Morphology

slip + in

The core meaning 'to lose one's balance and fall (into something)' is largely compositional from 'slip' (to slide/lose balance) + 'in' (into), so a learner who knows those senses could plausibly infer this meaning. However, 'slip' and the phrasal pattern are highly polysemous (e.g., 'slip in' can mean 'enter quietly' or 'insert covertly'), so without contextual cues the specific sense of falling is not fully predictable.

Etymology

Slip in comes from the image of slip + in: quietly sliding a small note or a short joke into a conversation without being noticed, so it means 'to insert or mention something in a subtle or casual way'.