Word.ws English Dictionary

slipping through someone's fingers

slipping through someone's fingers is the present participle and gerund of slip through someone's fingers.

Meaning of slip through someone's fingers

Verb

slip through someone's fingers (third-person singular simple present slips through someone's fingers, present participle slipping through someone's fingers, simple past and past participle slipped through someone's fingers)

  1. To elude someone in the end, despite having almost been achieved or captured.
    • "So you let the German spy slip through your fingers after all," protested Mr Carlyle warmly.1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC

Questions about slipping through someone's fingers

What is slipping through someone's fingers the present participle and gerund of?
Slipping through someone's fingers is the present participle and gerund of slip through someone's fingers.

Words near slipping through someone's fingers in the dictionary

  1. slipping one's wind
  2. slipping out
  3. slipping someone a length
  4. slipping someone's mind
  5. slipping through
  6. slipping through someone's fingers
  7. slipping through the cracks
  8. slipping through the net
  9. slipping under
  10. slipping under the radar
  11. slipping up

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: slipping through someone's fingers (page history and authors); slip through someone's fingers (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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