Meaning & use
slopey
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Meanings
adjectivecomparableinformal
Slanting or tilted instead of lying flat, as a surface or line.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after be: a slopey roof, the floor is slopey.
Patterns
- a slopey surface
- slopey ground
The shed has a slopey roof so rain runs off easily.
We pitched the tent on slopey ground and kept sliding down.
Her handwriting is slopey and leans to the right.
adjectivebefore a nouninformal
Drooping or falling away at a slant, as shoulders or edges do.
Grammar: Used before a noun to describe a slanting shape: slopey shoulders.
Patterns
- slopey shoulders
The old chair had slopey arms that were hard to rest on.
He had slopey shoulders that made his jacket hang badly.
The painter drew slopey hills in the background.
Word forms
| comparative | slopier |
|---|---|
| superlative | slopiest |
Common combinations
- slopey roof
- The cabin had a slopey roof covered in moss.
- slopey shoulders
- He had tall, slopey shoulders.
- slopey handwriting
- Her slopey handwriting was hard to read.
- slopey ground
- Slopey ground made the picnic difficult.
- slopey floor
- The slopey floor in the old house made marbles roll.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sloping
- Sloping is the standard word and works in formal writing, where slopey would seem casual.
- slanting
- Slanting stresses a line leaning to one side, while slopey often describes surfaces.
- tilted
- Tilted suggests something that was moved or turned from level, not built that way.
- inclined
- Inclined is formal and technical, often used for planes or paths.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: slopey or sloppy?
slopey vs sloppy
Sloppy means careless or messy, not slanted; a sloppy room is untidy, while a slopey room has a tilted floor.
Practice
The old barn had a ____ floor, so anything round rolled to one corner.
Choose one answer.
Slopey describes a surface set at an angle, which explains why things roll. Sloppy is the tempting wrong choice, but it means careless or messy.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “slopey”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.