glide
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to move in a smooth way that looks easy and quiet.
v.to move softly, smoothly, or effortlessly across a surface or through the air.
Simple“The dancers seemed to glide across the floor during the final song.”
In context“The swan appeared to glide effortlessly across the lake, its movement barely creating a ripple on the water's surface.”
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to fly through the air without using an engine or flapping wings.
v.to fly unpowered, utilizing air currents to maintain altitude and forward motion.
Simple“The eagle began to glide high above the valley, searching for food.”
In context“After the engine failed, the pilot managed to glide the aircraft toward a nearby field for an emergency landing.”
- 03 C2 Proficiency
n.a speech sound that is made while moving from one vowel to another.
n.a transitional sound, specifically a semivowel, produced by the vocal organs moving from one position to another.
Simple“In the word 'boy', the sound at the end is a glide.”
In context“Phonetic analysis reveals a distinct glide between the two vowel sounds in the diphthong.”
Synonymssemivowel
“Dorota Skowronska-Krawczyk watches a Greenland shark glide slowly through the dark waters of the Arctic on her computer screen.”
From Middle English gliden, from Old English glīdan, from Proto-West Germanic glīdan, from Proto-Germanic glīdaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰleydʰ-. Cognate with West Frisian glide, glydzje, Low German glieden, Dutch glijden, German gleiten, Norwegian Nynorsk gli, Danish glide, Swedish glida, Finnish liitää.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.