Meaning & use
slick road
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A road surface that has become so smooth and wet or icy that tires can easily lose their grip.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a slick road' or 'slick roads' when talking about more than one.
Patterns
- a slick road
- slick roads
- the road is slick
Drive slowly tonight because the roads are slick after the storm.
The truck slid across the slick road and hit the barrier.
Officials closed the highway because the slick road made driving too dangerous.
nouncountable
A stretch of road made slippery by spilled oil, fuel, or mud rather than by weather.
Grammar: Often used with 'from' to name the cause: a slick road from spilled oil.
Patterns
- a slick road from something
- slick roads near something
A slick road from an oil leak caused three cars to spin out.
Workers put down sand to dry the slick road near the construction site.
Word forms
| plural | slick roads |
|---|
Common combinations
- slick road conditions
- Slick road conditions forced the team to cancel the morning race.
- a slick road surface
- The bridge has a slick road surface whenever the temperature drops.
- the roads are slick
- Be careful — the roads are slick just past the tunnel.
- a slick road warning
- The app sent a slick road warning before we reached the mountains.
- drive on a slick road
- Even experienced drivers find it hard to drive on a slick road.
Synonyms and how they differ
- slippery road
- This is the more general everyday phrase; 'slick road' sounds a little more like a weather or traffic report.
- icy road
- Use this when the slipperiness comes specifically from ice, not from rain, oil, or mud.
- wet road
- A wet road is simply covered in water; a slick road is wet enough to be genuinely dangerous.
Word family
- slick adjective
- Smooth, wet, or oily in a way that makes surfaces hard to grip.
- slickness noun
- The quality of being smooth and slippery.
Commonly confused: slick road or sleek?
slick road vs sleek
'Sleek' means smooth and elegant in appearance, as of hair or a car design; it does not mean dangerously slippery.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'slick road' most naturally?
Choose one answer.
'Slick road' describes a road surface that is dangerously slippery, so cars sliding off fits perfectly. The other options treat it as a place for shopping, painting, or writing, which ignores the meaning of 'slick'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “slick road”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.