| / English Dictionary |
SMOOTH
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The act of smoothing
Example:
he gave his hair a quick smooth
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("smooth" is a kind of...):
accomplishment; achievement (the action of accomplishing something)
Derivation:
smooth (make smooth or smoother, as if by rubbing)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(of a body of water) free from disturbance by heavy waves
Example:
unruffled water
Synonyms:
placid; quiet; smooth; still; tranquil; unruffled
Classified under:
Similar:
calm ((of weather) free from storm or wind)
Derivation:
smoothness (the quality of having a level and even surface)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Lacking obstructions or difficulties
Example:
the bill's path through the legislature was smooth and orderly
Classified under:
Similar:
easy (posing no difficulty; requiring little effort)
Derivation:
smoothness (the quality of being free from errors or interruptions)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Smoothly agreeable and courteous with a degree of sophistication
Example:
the manager pacified the customer with a smooth apology for the error
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
diplomatic; diplomatical (using or marked by tact in dealing with sensitive matters or people)
Derivation:
smoothness (the quality of being bland and gracious or ingratiating in manner)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Smooth and unconstrained in movement
Example:
the liquid grace of a ballerina
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
graceful (characterized by beauty of movement, style, form, or execution)
Derivation:
smoothness (the quality of being free from errors or interruptions)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Having a surface free from roughness or bumps or ridges or irregularities
Example:
water as smooth as a mirror
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
velvet; velvet-textured; velvety (smooth and soft to sight or hearing or touch or taste)
aerodynamic; flowing; sleek; streamlined (designed or arranged to offer the least resistant to fluid flow)
seamless; unlined; unseamed (smooth, especially of skin)
glassy (resembling glass in smoothness and shininess and slickness)
fine-textured; smooth-textured (having a smooth, fine-grained structure)
fast ((of surfaces) conducive to rapid speeds)
even-textured (having an even texture)
creaseless; uncreased (used especially of fabrics)
Also:
slippery; slippy (causing or tending to cause things to slip or slide)
fine (of textures that are smooth to the touch or substances consisting of relatively small particles)
ironed ((of linens or clothes) smoothed with a hot iron)
even (being level or straight or regular and without variation as e.g. in shape or texture; or being in the same plane or at the same height as something else (i.e. even with))
Antonym:
rough (having or caused by an irregular surface)
Derivation:
smoothness (a texture without roughness; smooth to the touch)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Of motion that runs or flows or proceeds without jolts or turbulence
Example:
a smooth ride
Classified under:
Adjectives
Antonym:
rough (causing or characterized by jolts and irregular movements)
Derivation:
smoothness (the quality of being free from errors or interruptions)
Sense 7
Meaning:
Of the margin of a leaf shape; not broken up into teeth
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
entire ((of leaves or petals) having a smooth edge; not broken up into teeth or lobes)
repand (having a slightly undulating margin)
sinuate (having a strongly waved margin alternately concave and convex)
undulate (having a wavy margin and rippled surface)
unnotched; untoothed (having no notches)
Also:
simple; unsubdivided ((botany) of leaf shapes; of leaves having no divisions or subdivisions)
compound (composed of more than one part)
Domain category:
botany; phytology (the branch of biology that studies plants)
Antonym:
rough (of the margin of a leaf shape; having the edge cut or fringed or scalloped)
Derivation:
smoothness (the quality of having a level and even surface)
Sense 8
Meaning:
(music) without breaks between notes; smooth and connected
Example:
a legato passage
Synonyms:
legato; smooth
Classified under:
Adjectives
Domain category:
music (an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner)
Derivation:
smoothness (the quality of being free from errors or interruptions)
III. (verb)
Verb forms
Present simple: I / you / we / they smooth ... he / she / it smoothes /smooths
Past simple: smoothed
Past participle: smoothed
-ing form: smoothing
Sense 1
Meaning:
Make (a surface) shine
Example:
polish my shoes
Synonyms:
polish; shine; smooth; smoothen
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Hypernyms (to "smooth" is one way to...):
beautify; embellish; fancify; prettify (make more beautiful)
"Smooth" entails doing...:
rub (move over something with pressure)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "smooth"):
Simonise; Simonize (polish with wax)
sleek; slick (make slick or smooth)
buff; burnish; furbish (polish and make shiny)
gloss (give a shine or gloss to, usually by rubbing)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Sentence example:
They smooth the glass tubes
Sense 2
Meaning:
Make smooth or smoother, as if by rubbing
Example:
smooth the surface of the wood
Synonyms:
smooth; smoothen
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Hypernyms (to "smooth" is one way to...):
change surface (undergo or cause to undergo a change in the surface)
"Smooth" entails doing...:
rub (move over something with pressure)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "smooth"):
strip (remove the thread (of screws))
launch (smoothen the surface of)
rake (level or smooth with a rake)
plane (make even or smooth, with or as with a carpenter's plane)
float (make the surface of level or smooth)
sand; sandpaper (rub with sandpaper)
sandblast (grind with a sandblast)
file (smooth with a file)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Antonym:
roughen (make rough or rougher)
Also:
smooth over (treat hurriedly or avoid dealing with properly)
Derivation:
smooth (the act of smoothing)
smoother (a power tool used for sanding wood; an endless loop of sandpaper is moved at high speed by an electric motor)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Free from obstructions
Example:
smooth the way towards peace negotiations
Synonyms:
smooth; smooth out
Classified under:
Verbs of buying, selling, owning
Hypernyms (to "smooth" is one way to...):
disembarrass; free; rid (relieve from)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Context examples:
A layer of smooth cartilage lines the ends of the bones in many joints in the body.
(Stem cells grown on scaffold mimic hip joint cartilage, NIH)
From Earth-based observations, the team expected a generally smooth surface with a few large boulders.
(NASA Mission Reveals Asteroid Has Big Surprises, NASA)
This allele, which encodes actin, aortic smooth muscle protein, is involved in smooth muscle cell contraction.
(ACTA2 wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)
Because ice is less dense than rock, the topography could "relax," or smooth out, more quickly if ice or another lower-density material, such as salt, dominates the subsurface composition.
(The Case of the Missing Ceres Craters, NASA)
One possibility for the smooth surface is a kind of cold volcanic activity, called cryovolcanism.
(Pluto’s Big Moon Charon Reveals a Colorful and Violent History, NASA)
It was smooth, like the surface of a dish, and higher than their heads.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
An aggressive malignant smooth muscle neoplasm, occurring in adults.
(Adult Leiomyosarcoma, NCI Thesaurus)
The layers of ice were smooth, suggesting the ice hadn’t been strongly disturbed during that time.
(NASA Finds Possible Second Impact Crater Under Greenland Ice, NASA)
But valve cells are quite unique and distinct from the smooth muscle cells in our blood vessels, which explains why some treatments for atherosclerosis, such as statins, don't work for CAVD.
(New Hope for Stopping An Understudied Heart Disease in Its Tracks, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
This allele, which encodes MKL/myocardin-like protein 1, plays a role in the positive regulation of both smooth muscle cell differentiation and transcription.
(MKL1 wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)
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