# smooth
## English
### Alternative forms

* smeeth (dialectal)
* smoothe (verb, archaic)

### Etymology

From Middle English smothe, smethe, from Old English smēþe, smōþ, both from Proto-West Germanic *smanþī, of unknown origin. Cognate with Scots smuith (“smooth”), Low German smood and smödig (“smooth, malleable, ductile”), Dutch smeuïg (“smooth”) (from earlier smeudig).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /smuːð/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -uːð

### Adjective

smooth (comparative smoother, superlative smoothest)
* Having a texture that lacks friction. Not rough.
** 1695, C[harles] A[lphonse] du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica. The Art of Painting, […], London: […] J[ohn] Heptinstall for W. Rogers, […], →OCLC:The outlines must be smooth, […] imperceptible to the touch, and even, without eminence or cavities.
** 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:“A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; and she looked it, always trim and trig and smooth of surface like a converted yacht cleared for action. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, […].
** 2005, Lesley Brown, Sophist, translation of original by Plato, page 229e:Teaching that’s done by talking seems to have one rough path and another part which is smoother.
* Without difficulty, problems, or unexpected consequences or incidents.
    We hope for a smooth transition to the new system.
** 2011, Phil McNulty, “Euro 2012: Montenegro 2-2 England”, in BBC‎:England's path to Poland and Ukraine next summer looked to be a smooth one as goals from Ashley Young and Darren Bent gave them a comfortable lead after 31 minutes.
** 2019 June 19, Elisabeth Malkin and Ana Swanson, “Mexico Ratifies Trade Deal With the U.S. and Canada”, in The New York Times‎:The path to approval has been bumpiest in Washington, where Democrats in Congress have raised concerns over Mexico’s enforcement of labor rights and environmental law — and smoothest in Mexico, where the president has described the accord as a guarantee of stability for his country’s economy.
* Bland; glib.
** 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, (please specify the page):This smooth discourse and mild behavior oft / Conceal a traitor.
** 1912, Gustavus Myers, History of the Supreme Court of the United States, page 133:This feeling, grounded on the experience of centuries of oppression, was not to be allayed by smooth explanations on the part of the advocates of the Constitution.
* Flowing or uttered without check, obstruction, or hesitation; not harsh; fluent.
** 1670, John Milton, The History of Britain:the only smooth poet of those times
** 1737, [Alexander Pope], The First Epistle of the Second Book of Horace, Imitated, London: […] T. Cooper, […], →OCLC, page 16:VValler vvas ſmooth; but Dryden taught to join / The varying verſe, the full reſounding line, / The long majetſic march, and energy divine.
** 1713 (indicated as 1714), [John] Gay, “Book III”, in The Fan. A Poem. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 23:VVhen bright Minerva roſe, / From her ſvveet Lips ſmooth Elocution flovvs, […]
* Suave; sophisticated.
** 2003, T. Lewis Humphrey, The Price of Love, →ISBN, page 279:He was so smooth and handsome. He knew just what to say and when to say it.
* (of an action) Natural; unconstrained.
** 2006, Mary Kay Moskal, Camille Blachowicz, Reading for Fluency, →ISBN, page 3:In order for a reading to be smooth and effortless, readers must be able to recognize and read words accurately, automatically, and quickly.
* (of a motion) Unbroken.
** 1927, United States National Guard Bureau, Manual of Basic Training and Standards of Proficiency for the National Guard, page 181:Demonstrate first by the numbers and then as one smooth movement.
* (chiefly of water) Placid, calm.
** 1898, John Donaldson Ford, An American Cruiser in the East, page 47:As we worked to the southward, we picked up fair weather, and enjoyed smooth seas and pleasant skies.
* (of an edge) Lacking projections or indentations; not serrated.
** 1994, Robert E. Swanson, A Field Guide to the Trees and Shrubs of the Southern Appalachians, →ISBN, page 8:A leaf having a smooth margin, without teeth or indentations of any kind, is called entire.
** 1997, Christopher Dickey, Innocent Blood: A Novel, →ISBN, page 91:Out of the handles flipped the smooth blade and the serrated blade, which was dangerously sharp, the flathead screwdrivers, the Phillips screwdriver, the can opener, the awl.
* (of food or drink) Not grainy; having an even texture.
** 1997, Lou Seibert Pappas, Sorbets and Ice Creams, →ISBN, page 19:A compact and stylish design, it produces 1 generous quart of excellent, smooth ice cream in 20 to 25 minutes.
* (of a beverage) Having a pleasantly rounded flavor; neither rough nor astringent.
** 2002, Candace Irvin, For His Eyes Only, →ISBN, page 9:The coffee was smooth, so smooth she took another sip.
* (mathematics, of a function) Having derivatives of all finite orders at all points within the function’s domain.
** 2003, Eric W. Weisstein, CRC Concise Encyclopedia of Mathematics, →ISBN, page 419:Any ANALYTIC FUNCTION is smooth. But a smooth function is not necessarily analytic.
* (mathematics, of a number) That factors completely into small prime numbers.
* (linguistics, classical studies, of a vowel) Lacking marked aspiration.
** 1830, Benjamin Franklin Fisk, A Grammar of the Greek Language, page 5:Οὐ becomes οὐκ before a smooth vowel, and οὐχ before an aspirate.
* (of muscles, medicine) Involuntary and non-striated.

#### Synonyms

* (having a texture lacking friction): even
* (without difficulty or problems): fluid

#### Antonyms

* rough
* uneven
* bumpy

#### Derived terms

* a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor
* besmooth
* buttery smooth
* nonsmoothness
* silky smooth
* smooth alder
* smooth as a baby's bottom
* smooth as butter
* smooth as eggs
* smooth as oil
* smooth as silk
* smooth azalea
* smooth brain
* smooth-brained
* smooth breathing
* smooth brome
* smooth call
* smooth clam
* smooth collie
* smooth cordgrass
* smoothen
* smooth fox terrier
* smooth function
* smooth green snake
* smooth-haired
* smooth handfish
* smooth hound
* smoothie
* smooth jazz
* smooth leatherjacket
* smooth loofah
* smoothly
* smooth manifold
* smooth mudalia
* smooth muscle
* smoothness
* smooth newt
* smooth number
* smooth operator
* smooth-running
* smooth sailing
* smooth snake
* smooth sole
* smooth-spoken
* smooth-talk
* smooth talk
* smooth talker
* smooth talking
* smooth-talking
* smooth-tongued
* take the rough with the smooth
* the course of true love never did run smooth

#### Translations
### Adverb

smooth (comparative smoother, superlative smoothest)
* Smoothly.
** 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep.

### Noun

smooth (plural smooths)
* Something that is smooth, or that goes smoothly and easily.
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 27:16:The smooth of his neck.
** 1861 January – 1862 August, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, The Adventures of Philip on His Way through the World; […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1862, →OCLC:I think you and I will take the ups and the downs , the roughs and the smooths of this daily existence and conversation
** 1860, Anne Manning, The Day of Small Things‎, page 81:Things are often equalized by roughs and smooths being set against one another.
* A smoothing action.
** 2006, Julienne Van Loon, Road Story‎, →ISBN, page 12:She brushes down her hair with a little bit of spit and a smooth of her hand and opens the bright green door, walking a few metres, squinting.
* A domestic animal having a smooth coat.
** 1916, William Ernest Castle, Sewall Wright, Studies of Inheritance in Guinea-pigs and Rats‎, page 104:In the 4-toe stock there is a wide gap between the lowest rough and the smooths which come from the same parents.
* A member of an anti-hippie fashion movement in 1970s Britain.
** 1999, Peter Childs, Mike Storry, Encyclopedia of Contemporary British Culture‎, →ISBN, page 188:By the early 1970s, skinhead culture began to mutate into the variant ‘white ethnic’ styles of the suedeheads and smooths.
* (statistics) The analysis obtained through a smoothing procedure.
** 1990, Wolfgang Härdle, Applied Nonparametric Regression‎, →ISBN, page 17:A smooth of the potato data set has already been given in Figure 1.2.

#### Translations
### Verb

smooth (third-person singular simple present smooths, present participle smoothing, simple past and past participle smoothed)
* (transitive) To make smooth or even.
** 1961, William Gibson, The Miracle Worker‎, →ISBN, page 37:She smooths her skirt, looking as composed and ladylike as possible.
    Synonym: smoothen
* (transitive) To reduce to a particular shape or form by pressure; to press, to flatten.
    to smooth cloth with a smoothing iron
* (transitive) To make straightforward or easy.
** 2007, Beth Kohn, Lonely Planet Venezuela, page 379:Caracas can be a tough place but the tremendously good-natured caraqueños smoothed my passage every step of the way.
* (transitive) To calm or palliate.
    to smooth a person's temper
* (statistics, image processing, digital audio) To capture important patterns in the data, while leaving out noise.
** 1999, Murray R. Spiegel, Larry J. Stephens, Schaum’s Outline of Theory and Problems of Statistics‎, →ISBN, page 457:[…] the 7-month moving averages provide better smoothing of the data in this case than do the 3-month moving averages.
* (West Country) To stroke; especially to stroke an animal's fur.
    Can I smooth your cat?

#### Derived terms

* smooth away
* smooth down
* smoothen
* smooth endoplasmic reticulum
* smoother
* smoothing circuit
* smoothing consumption
* smoothing press
* smooth out
* smooth over
* smooth someone's feathers
* smooth up

#### See also

* smoothing on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Anagrams

* shtoom