glib

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glib

(glĭb)

adj. glib·ber, glib·best

1. Performed with a natural, offhand ease: was fascinated by his unfailingly glib conversation.

2. Given to or characterized by fluency of speech or writing that often suggests insincerity, superficiality, or a lack of concern: criticized him for being glib about something so serious.

[Possibly of Low German origin; see ghel- in Indo-European roots.]

glib′ly adv.

glib′ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

glib

(ɡlɪb)

adj, glibber or glibbest

fluent and easy, often in an insincere or deceptive way

[C16: probably from Middle Low German glibberich slippery]

ˈglibly adv

ˈglibness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

glib

(glɪb)

adj. glib•ber, glib•best.

1. readily fluent, often superficially or insincerely so: a glib talker; glib answers.

2. easy or unconstrained: glib manners.

[1585–95; compare obsolete glibbery slippery (c. Dutch glibberig)]

glib′ly, adv.

glib′ness, n.

syn: See fluent.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Adj.	1.	glib - marked by lack of intellectual depth; "glib generalizations"; "a glib response to a complex question" superficial - concerned with or comprehending only what is apparent or obvious; not deep or penetrating emotionally or intellectually; "superficial similarities"; "a superficial mind"; "his thinking was superficial and fuzzy"; "superficial knowledge"; "the superficial report didn't give the true picture"; "only superficial differences"
	2.	glib - having only superficial plausibility; "glib promises"; "a slick commercial" pat, slick plausible - apparently reasonable and valid, and truthful; "a plausible excuse"
	3.	glib - artfully persuasive in speech; "a glib tongue"; "a smooth-tongued hypocrite" glib-tongued, smooth-tongued persuasive - intended or having the power to induce action or belief; "persuasive eloquence"; "a most persuasive speaker"; "a persuasive argument"

glib

adjective smooth, easy, ready, quick, slick, plausible, slippery, fluent, suave, artful, insincere, fast-talking, smooth-tongued He is full of glib excuses for his past mistakes. a glib car salesman
halting, sincere, hesitant, implausible, tongue-tied

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

glib

adjective

Characterized by ready but often insincere or superficial discourse:

facile, slick, smooth-tongued.

Translations

Spanish / Español

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glib

[glɪb] ADJ [person] → de mucha labia, poco sincero; [explanation, excuse] → fácil; [speech] → elocuente pero insincero

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

glib

(glib) adjective

1. speaking persuasively but usually without sincerity. The salesman was a very glib talker. de mucha labia, charlatán, desenvuelto

2. (of a reply etc) quick and ready, but showing little thought. glib excuses.fácil, desenvuelto, fluido

ˈglibly adverb

con desenvoltura, con fluidez, con mucha labia

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Maggie's mother paced to and fro, addressing the doorful of eyes, expounding like a glib showman at a museum.

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He could not admit that some dozens of men, among them his brother, had the right, on the ground of what they were told by some hundreds of glib volunteers swarming to the capital, to say that they and the newspapers were expressing the will and feeling of the people, and a feeling which was expressed in vengeance and murder.

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He was merely facile and glib. He was too dense to follow the discussion.

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X arrived, faced this same man, looked him in the eye, and emptied this sentence on him, in the most glib and confident way: "Can man boat get here?"

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Stryver was a glib man, and an unscrupulous, and a ready, and a bold, he had not that faculty of extracting the essence from a heap of statements, which is among the most striking and necessary of the advocate's accomplishments.

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Here the glib politician crying his legislative panaceas, and here the peripatetic Cheap-Jack holding aloft his quack cures for human ills.

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'Sit down,' she says; 'I've nothing to read, and I hate work; let's have a little chat.' She's got a glib tongue of her own.

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Captain Jim had an ice boat, and many a wild, glorious spin Gilbert and Anne and Leslie had over the glib harbor ice with him.

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He was a dangerous suitor, with his glib Irish tongue, and his pretty, coaxing ways.

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Fanny Price had picked up the glib chatter of the studios and had no difficulty in impressing Philip with the extent of her knowledge.

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They were swayed by the same ethic that dominated their husbands--the ethic of their class; and they uttered glib phrases that their own ears did not understand.

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It was a maxim with Mr Brass that the habit of paying compliments kept a man's tongue oiled without any expense; and, as that useful member ought never to grow rusty or creak in turning on its hinges in the case of a practitioner of the law, in whom it should be always glib and easy, he lost few opportunities of improving himself by the utterance of handsome speeches and eulogistic expressions.

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