sliding

verb

present participle of slide
1
as in sneaking
to move about in a sly or secret manner slid gently into his seat without anyone else in church noticing

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
as in flowing
to move or proceed smoothly and readily at this point the river slides along its banks with barely a ripple

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in crawling
to move slowly with the body close to the ground the convict escaped by sliding through the prison's ductwork

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of sliding The Braves spent their afternoon with Little League baseball players, sliding down hills and laughing alongside children who will remember Sunday for the rest of their lives. — Gabriel Burns, AJC.com, 25 Aug. 2026 Defender Kevin O'Toole poked the ball away, but Mboma Dem put away a sliding first-touch shot that opened the scoring in the 11th minute. — CBS News, 20 Aug. 2026 This prevents them from sliding around under the sock or slipping out completely during play. — Bestreviews, Mercury News, 20 Aug. 2026 His sliding popularity, flip-flopping on key personnel decisions, and entanglement in corruption allegations, have taken their toll on his poll ratings. — Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Money, 19 Aug. 2026 These guys might do much of the unglamorous work that goes unnoticed, breaking up play, playing short passes and sliding across into position to snuff out counter-attacks, but their role is highly valued in the transfer market. — Anantaajith Raghuraman, New York Times, 13 Aug. 2026 An Intensity Slider – a simple sliding bar adjustment for controlling the depth, vibrancy, brightness and contrast of the TV’s pictures to compensate for viewing angles, onscreen reflections and simply different viewing tastes. — John Archer, Forbes.com, 6 Aug. 2026 Originally housing offices, its heyday in Detroit’s industrial age was brief, sliding into decline in the 1960s and ultimately going vacant. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 30 July 2026 In the meantime, relatively strong iPhone and Mac sales in this quarter didn’t stop Apple’s stock value from sliding around eight percent in after-hours trading. — Samuel Axon, ArsTechnica, 30 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sliding
  1. sneaking
  2. flowing
  3. crawling
  4. lurking
  5. gliding
  6. creeping
  7. slipping
  8. drifting
Verb
  • Police are investigating a rash of incidents involving people sneaking out of sewers.
    — Karissa Waddick, USA Today, 25 Aug. 2026
  • Pinch-hitter Eli White followed by sneaking a soft line drive up the middle to drive in Durbin, cutting the Giants’ lead to 2-1.
    — Justice delos Santos, Mercury News, 23 Aug. 2026
Definition of sneaking
Verb
  • The flooding also prompted alerts in northern India, where authorities evacuated thousands of people in Bihar as rivers flowing from the Himalayas rose.
    — Anthony Thompson, USA Today, 26 Aug. 2026
  • That platform has paid out $30 billion since 2016; that's 80% of overall money flowing through the site.
    — Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of flowing
Verb
  • One of the groups was seen leaving about three hours afterward, according to the NYPD, while the second odd circumstance ended after individuals were seen crawling out and leaving in a vehicle more than two and a half hours after.
    — Amethyst Martinez, USA Today, 24 Aug. 2026
  • Nidhi imagined the baby crawling around in her mother’s body, desperately seeking the uterus, and, failing to find it in its proper place, quietly shrivelling up and dying.
    — Madhuri Vijay, New Yorker, 16 Aug. 2026
Definition of crawling
Verb
  • Audiences embraced the films for their creeping realism and slow-building scares, which transformed ordinary bedrooms, hallways and home security cameras into places where something terrifying might be lurking just outside the frame.
    — Dave Quinn, PEOPLE, 26 Aug. 2026
  • Filmmaker Bennie Safdie was also seen lurking at the shows with a camera.
    — Zac Ntim, Deadline, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of lurking
Verb
  • Powering the watch is the Spring Drive Caliber 9R65, known for its smooth gliding seconds hand and 72-hour power reserve.
    — Anthony DeMarco, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2026
  • Gliding swings use a gentle gliding motion for relaxing your baby.
    — BestReviews, Mercury News, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of gliding
Verb
  • Audiences embraced the films for their creeping realism and slow-building scares, which transformed ordinary bedrooms, hallways and home security cameras into places where something terrifying might be lurking just outside the frame.
    — Dave Quinn, PEOPLE, 26 Aug. 2026
  • That has sent oil prices creeping higher for weeks, edging closer to $100 a barrel.
    — David Goldman, CNN Money, 22 Aug. 2026
Definition of creeping
Verb
  • The body of a woman who rescued a child struggling in the Delaware River in New Jersey before slipping underwater herself has been recovered following an hourslong search, police said.
    — Meredith Deliso, ABC News, 25 Aug. 2026
  • Reduce wear time by wearing commuter shoes and slipping into heels once at your destination.
    — Karla Rodriguez, Footwear News, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of slipping
Verb
  • The generation with the most to lose The clearest evidence that confidence and competence are drifting apart shows up in the generational data.
    — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 25 Aug. 2026
  • Dark, light-absorbing particles turn into light-scattering particles, transforming dark, dense plumes into the milky white haze seen drifting across the eastern skies.
    — Michael A. Robinson, The Conversation, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of drifting

Browse Nearby Words

slides
sliding
slight
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Cite this Entry

“Sliding.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sliding. Accessed 2 Sep. 2026.

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