adj
Meaning 1
Having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding; superficial; shallow.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- glib anwers
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
glib
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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/ɡlɪb/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɪb
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CMU ARPABET: G L IH1 B Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adj
Meaning 2
Smooth or slippery.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic
Qualifier: literal
Examples
- a sheet of glib ice
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Meaning 3
Artfully persuasive but insincere in nature; smooth-talking, honey-tongued, silver-tongued.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- a glib tongue
- a glib speech
- a glib politician
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: facile, suave
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Meaning 4
Snarky or unserious in a disrespectful way.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
A person's mouth or tongue.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: UK, obsolete, slang
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: dubber
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 6
A mass of matted hair worn down over the eyes, formerly common in Ireland.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: historical
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 7
To make smooth or slippery.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
Examples
- 1628, Joseph Hal, “Christian Liberty Laid Forth,” in The Works of the Right Reverend Father in God, Joseph Hall, D.D., Volume V, London: Williams & Smith, 1808, p. 366, https://books.google.ca/books?id=8iUBAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false There is a drunken liberty of the Tongue; which, being once glibbed with intoxicating liquor, runs wild through heaven and earth; and spares neither him that is God above, nor those which are called gods on earth.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 8
To castrate; to geld; to emasculate.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 9
artfully persuasive in speech
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- a glib tongue
- a smooth-tongued hypocrite
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: glib-tongued, smooth-tongued
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 10
having only superficial plausibility
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- glib promises
- a slick commercial
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: pat, slick
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 11
marked by lack of intellectual depth
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- glib generalizations
- a glib response to a complex question
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
A shortening of either obsolete English glibbery (“slippery”) or its source, Low German glibberig, glibberich (“slippery”) / Dutch glibberig (“slippery”).
Borrowed from Irish glib.
Compare Old English and dialectal English lib (“to castrate, geld”), dialectal Danish live, Low German and Old Dutch lubben.
Across languages
Translations
65 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: словоохотлив (slovoohotliv) — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Catalan: loquaç — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Czech: povrchní — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Czech: plynný — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Czech: lehkovážný — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Czech: zlehčující — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Czech: plytký — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- French: désinvolte — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Galician: larapetas — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Galician: larapeteiro — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Galician: laretas — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Galician: lareto — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Galician: lerchán — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Galician: lercho — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Galician: leriante — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Galician: lingoreteiro — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Galician: linguateiro — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Galician: paroleiro — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Galician: papexón — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Galician: zarapelo — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Galician: falabarato — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- German: schwatzhaft — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- German: beredsam — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- German: glattgebügelt — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- German: oberflächlich — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Italian: loquace — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Italian: fluente — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Norwegian Bokmål: glatt — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Norwegian Bokmål: litt for veltalende — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Norwegian Bokmål: rappmunnet — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Norwegian Bokmål: rapptunget — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Polish: wygadany — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Polish: elokwentny — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Russian: болтли́вый (boltlívyj) — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Russian: словоохо́тливый (slovooxótlivyj) — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Scottish Gaelic: leamh — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Scottish Gaelic: cabanta — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Turkish: üstünkörü — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Ukrainian: говіркий (hovirkyj) — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Ukrainian: меткий (metkyj) — having a ready flow of words but lacking thought or understanding
- Bulgarian: гладък (gladǎk) — smooth or slippery
- Bulgarian: плъзгав (plǎzgav) — smooth or slippery
- Catalan: relliscós — smooth or slippery
- German: glatt — smooth or slippery
- German: rutschig — smooth or slippery
- German: schlüpfrig — smooth or slippery
- Polish: gładki — smooth or slippery
- Russian: гла́дкий (gládkij) — smooth or slippery
- Turkish: samimiyetsiz — smooth or slippery
- Ukrainian: гладкий (hladkyj) — smooth or slippery
- Catalan: llepó — artfully persuasive but insincere in nature
- Czech: vemlouvavý — artfully persuasive but insincere in nature
- Czech: uhlazený — artfully persuasive but insincere in nature
- German: aalglatt — artfully persuasive but insincere in nature
- German: gewandt — artfully persuasive but insincere in nature
- German: einschmeichelnd-betrügerisch — artfully persuasive but insincere in nature
- German: schmierig — artfully persuasive but insincere in nature
- German: zungenfertig — artfully persuasive but insincere in nature
- Ingrian: lippiäkeeli — artfully persuasive but insincere in nature
- Japanese: 巧言令色な (kōgenreishoku-na) — artfully persuasive but insincere in nature
- Polish: powierzchowny — artfully persuasive but insincere in nature
- Polish: płytki — artfully persuasive but insincere in nature
- Turkish: cerbezeli — artfully persuasive but insincere in nature
- Ukrainian: солодкомовний (solodkomovnyj) — artfully persuasive but insincere in nature
- Ukrainian: облесливий (obleslyvyj) — artfully persuasive but insincere in nature