slippery slope


Also found in: Dictionary, Medical, Wikipedia.

slippery slope

A situation in which some behavior or action will eventually lead to a worse form of the same behavior or action, or a disastrous outcome. Eating that piece of cake is a slippery slope that could lead to you completely abandoning your diet. Verbal abuse is often a slippery slope that leads to physical abuse.
See also: slippery, slope
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

slippery slope

a dangerous pathway or route to follow; a route that leads to trouble. The matter of euthanasia is a slippery slope with both legal and moral considerations.
See also: slippery, slope
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

slippery slope

A dangerous course, one that leads easily to catastrophe, as in He's on a slippery slope, compromising his values to please both the bosses and the union . This metaphoric expression alludes to traversing a slick hillside, in constant danger of falling. [Mid-1900s]
See also: slippery, slope
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

a slippery slope

COMMON A slippery slope is a course of action which is likely to lead to failure or serious trouble. It's a slippery slope. You give in to one demand and soon find that you're doing exactly what they want. The company started down the slippery slope of believing that they knew better than the customer, with the inevitable disastrous results. Note: You can also say that someone is on a slippery slope or on the slippery slope. These young people may already be on the slippery slope to criminality.
See also: slippery, slope
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

slippery slope

an idea or course of action which will lead inevitably to something unacceptable, wrong, or disastrous.
1998 Spectator Those of us who feared that devolution would not assuage nationalist sentiment but turn out to be the slippery slope to separatism have a good chance of being proved right.
See also: slippery, slope
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

the slippery ˈslope

a situation or way of behaving that could quickly lead to danger, disaster, failure, etc: Starting with shoplifting, he was soon on the slippery slope towards a life of crime.
See also: slippery, slope
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

slippery slope, a

A dangerous path or situation leading to disaster. Alluding to a path down which one could slide to a bad fall, this figure of speech dates from the mid-1900s. The Daily Telegraph of January 6, 1964 stated, “While Western feet thus approach what some fear may be a slippery slope towards recognition of the East, Ulbricht’s ground seems as firm as ever it was.” In a New Yorker piece about writers chronicling Sherlock Holmes, one of them is quoted as saying, “I’ve now done . . . more than fifteen hundred pages and I’ve only gotten up to 1950. It’s been a slippery slope into madness and obsession” (Dec. 13, 2004).
See also: slippery
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer
See also:
References in periodicals archive ?
"It may be convenient," Prodromou added, "that with [Kyprianou's] claim regarding a slippery slope, the public is reminded of the never-ending downward slope and the nightmare brought about by the policies of Akel."
Party feuding goes down slippery slope
This task is enabled by the vast scholarly literature that has formed around understanding the slippery slope fallacy.
Bright lines or blurred lines? Universal background checks and the NRA slippery slope argument
The "practical slippery slope" occurs when euthanasia is carried out in breach of the legal requirements as to either who may have access or the situations in which they must find themselves for euthanasia to be permissible.
Euthanasia: it's a long, long, long way down: one way to get rid of slippery slopes is to deny that they exist
Using a tail the right way in a hop-swing kind of gait, however, lets little fish called mudskippers, as well as a dune-invading robot, get going on slippery slopes, Goldman and collaborators report in the July 8 Science.
Hightailing it out of the water: land-walking fish, robot show value of additional appendage
"The relationship is on a much more slippery slope now.
US-Pak ties on "much more slippery slope now" following NATO attack: Ex-Pak envoy
He said: "We are on a slippery slope. That wasn't us out there and we are disappointed.
Baggies facing uphill battle
PLANS to allow people to work beyond the traditional retirement age are a "slippery slope", Plaid Cymru warned last night.
'Slippery slope' of working past 65
What does it mean when someone is going down a "slippery slope" with his or her logic?
Logical fallacies
Opponents argue the new law is on a slippery slope and can't be enforced.
Snow peril
Colin, RugbyOn a slippery slope Alastair Down's fear that racing may be dumbed down in order to attract a wider audience is a near certainty in my view.
CHATROOM
IT looks very much like Amy Winehouse is on a slippery slope to oblivion, to judge by all the latest photographs of her.
Letter: Your say - Amy has to choose life
"Once again, we would like to caution European decision makers: adopting broad regulations to ban products from a responsible, sustainable and well-regulated hunt is a slippery slope," warned Canadian Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn, who maintains that seal hunt in Canada is carried out without cruelty.
EU/CANADA : OTTAWA: EU BAN "A DANGEROUS PRECEDENT"
The key note, however, is Thompson's admiration of Roy Orbison, with several tracks - particularly the rich Slippery Slope - nodding to the Big O.
music: TEDDY THOMPSON
Watson's article "A Look Down the Slippery Slope: Domestic Operations, Outsourcing, and the erosion of Military Culture" (Spring 2008), I'd say there is a very real danger that two new elements of military readiness, namely, the increasing use of contractor services and the use of bonuses as an incentive for retention, will gradually transform the volunteer force into a mercenary force.
A Look Down the Slippery Slope
Is your "slippery slope" logic intended to be absurd?
Criminal behavior
Idioms browser ?
Full browser ?