glib

/glɪb/

/glɪb/

Other forms: glibber; glibbest

A hiring manager might think you're being glib, or slick and insincere, if you say you've led a successful multinational corporation when you were actually in charge of flipping burgers for a fast-food restaurant chain.

The word glib might be used to describe the slick car salesman who uses his polished sales pitch to talk his customers into buying lemons. In fact, the word comes from old German and Dutch words for "slippery," another word that could be used to describe the very same salesman. In addition to meaning "smooth" and "persuasive," glib can be applied to the kind of thoughtless comment that could get you into big trouble.

Definitions of glib

1. adjective

   artfully persuasive in speech
   “a glib tongue”

   synonyms: glib-tongued, smooth-tongued

   persuasive

   intended or having the power to induce action or belief
2. adjective

   having only superficial plausibility
   “glib promises”

   synonyms: pat, slick

   plausible

   apparently reasonable, valid, or truthful
3. adjective

   marked by lack of intellectual depth
   “glib generalizations”

   “a glib response to a complex question”

   synonyms:

   superficial

   concerned with or comprehending only what is apparent or obvious; not deep or penetrating emotionally or intellectually