slithering
Moving like serpents
Slithering describes smooth, gliding movement close to a surface, like a snake's locomotion.
The word suggests sinuous, side-to-side motion without legs: A snake came slithering through the grass.
It can apply to anything moving with similar fluid, slightly unsettling grace: The rope slithered off the dock into the water.
Curving in repeated bends
- glideMove with effortless continuity
- writheTwist body in pain
- slinkMove furtively
- coilWound circular arrangement
creep · crawl · undulate · slide · wriggle · squirm · sneak · inch
serpentine
Curving in repeated bends
coil · creep · crawl · undulate · slide · wriggle · squirm · sneak · inch · worm
snake
Limbless scaled reptile
boa · anaconda · serpent · adder · asp · scales · forked tongue · fangs · constrictor · rattlesnake
slippery
Lacking friction, hard-to-grasp
wet · smooth · oily · glistening · lubricated · moist · sleek · glossy
- reptile traitsscaly, cold-blooded, forked tongue, shedding skin, venomous
- locomotionwalking, running, crawling, swimming, flying
- slidingslide, glide, slip, skid, skim
- gradual motioncrawling, creeping, inching, drifting, gliding
- biological movementlocomotion, crawling, walking, running, swimming
- escape responsesfleeing, flight, running away, escaping, escape