Dictionary

let slide en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From Middle English leten sliden (“to disregard, put aside, let pass, neglect”), equivalent to let + slide.

Meanings

1. (of intangibles, transitive) To let go; to allow; to release; to pass over without action.
   • The administrator let the minor infraction slide with only a disapproving look.
   • The police officer let the ticket slide when she found her brother-in-law's car illegally parked.
   • With a calm carelessness letting each thing slide. a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC:
   • Which statement Louis prudently let slide. 1970, Larry Niven, Ringworld, page 277:
   • Near-synonym: let ride
2. To pass out of one's thought as not being of any consequence.
3. (of persons, transitive) To tolerate a violation of a norm from.
   • The judge let me slide on the speeding, but not on a $200 seat-belt violation.
   • I take it all, I let it slide But hey, you went too far this time 2015 May 12, Rachel Platten, Jon Levine, Scott Jacoby, “Congratulations”, in Fight Song, performed by Rachel Platten:
4. (idiomatic) To allow the condition of something to deteriorate due to negligence or apathy.
   • He let the farm slide after inheriting it from his father.
5. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see let, slide.

Forms

Coordinates

let it be · leave it be

Synonyms

let something ride

Translations (3)

fi mennä (to let pass) · es dejar correr (To let go; to allow; to release; to pass over without action. To tolerate a violation of a norm from) · sl (neopaženo) miniti (to let pass)