Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act or an instance of slipping, especially movement away from an original or secure place.
  • noun The amount or extent of slipping.
  • noun A decline in level, performance, or achievement.
  • noun Loss of motion or power because of slipping.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of slipping; also, in mech., the amount of slip.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of slipping; also, the amount of slipping.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The act of slipping, especially from a secure location.
  • noun The amount something has slipped.
  • noun A lessening of performance or achievement.
  • noun A decrease in motion, or in the power of a mechanical system due to slipping.
  • noun The difference between estimated and actual transaction costs.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun failing to hold or slipping out of place
  • noun decline from a standard level of performance or achievement
  • noun a decrease of transmitted power in a mechanical system caused by slipping

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

slip +‎ -age

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Examples

  • That kind of slippage is repeatedly justified by saying that there's no time for deliberations, for archaic constitutional procedures.

    IsThatLegal? 2004

  • Among all Americans, the slippage is even greater - from 59 percent in February to just 35 percent today.

    Most think Catholic Church poorly dealt with child abuse scandal 2010

  • Most of the president's slippage is among Republicans; their approval of his work overall has dropped by 16 points since April, from 36 percent then to 20 percent now.

    Poll: Obama drops on health care 2009

  • Most of the president's slippage is among Republicans; their approval of his work overall has dropped by 16 points since April and this from ABC news poll.

    Poll: Obama drops on health care 2009

  • Meanwhile, Ross Walker, U.K. economist at Royal Bank of Scotland, said it's unlikely that any near-term slippage in implementing cuts will fundamentally undermine market confidence.

    MarketWatch.com - Top Stories 2010

  • We were forewarned by their word slippage during the campaign of '08.

    The Washington Times stories: Latest Headlines 2009

  • Most of the bloggers talking about it seem to have assumed that it approaches perfect precision, which actually does set up a paradox at an idealized equilibrium, in that the starving ass, undeniably motivated to eat something, would be unable actually to eat anything because there would be no 'slippage' - randomness, say, or indeterminacy - for acting one way or another.

    Buridan's Ass Chris 2004

  • I did, but I also allowed myself some "slippage" - what the industry calls the profits lost to sneaky bartenders.

    New York Press 2009

  • This video shows San Diego fire officials are calling a slippage of land.

    CNN Transcript Jan 7, 2008 2008

  • This video shows what San Diego fire officials are calling a slippage of land.

    CNN Transcript Jan 7, 2008 2008

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