. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
you have here. The definition of the word
will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English sclabbe, slabbe, of uncertain origin; possibly from *slap, related to dialectal slappel (“portion, piece”), along with slape (“slippery”), sleip (“smooth piece of timber”), borrowed through Old Norse sleipr from Proto-Germanic *slaipaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leyb-. See also Norwegian sleip (“slippery”) and Icelandic sleipur.
Noun
slab (plural slabs)
- A large, flat piece of solid material; a solid object that is large and flat.
1859, John Lang, Botany Bay, or, True Tales of Early Australia, page 155:There were no windows in the inn. They were not required, since the interstices between the slabs suffered the wind, the rain, and the light of day to penetrate simultaneously.
1962, “Monster Mash”, Bobby "Boris" Pickett and Lenny Capizzi (lyrics), performed by Bobby (Boris) Pickett and The Crypt-Kickers:I was working in the lab late one night
When my eyes beheld an eerie sight
For my monster, from his slab, began to rise
And suddenly, to my surprise
He did the Mash
He did the Monster Mash.
2010, Ryan Humphreys, The Flirtations of Dan Harris, page 73:“The pier? You mean those few sodden logs tied together and that dingy slab of rough concrete.”
- A paving stone; a flagstone.
- (Australia) A carton containing 24 cans (chiefly of beer).
2001, Les Carlyon, Gallipoli, page 8:The Australians murder a few slabs of beer and the New Zealanders murder a few vowels.
2002, Alex Miller, Journey to the Stone Country, Allen & Unwin, published 2003, page 88:The older man bought a slab of Coca-Cola at the counter and carried it out ahead of the younger man.
- 2008, Diem Vo, Family Life, Alice Pung (editor), page 156,
- However, unlike in Ramsay Street, there were never any cups of tea or bickies served. Instead, each family unit came armed with a slab of beer.
2010, Holly Smith, Perth, Western Australia & the Outback, Hunter Publishing, unnumbered page:Common 375-ml cans are called tinnies, and can be bought in 24-can slabs for discounted prices.
2009, Ross Fitzgerald, Trevor Jordan, Under the Influence: A History of Alcohol in Australia, published 2011, unnumbered page:One essential part of the strategy for selling regionally identified beers beyond their borders was the selling of slabs — a package of four six-packs of stubbies or cans — for discounted prices interstate.
- An outside piece taken from a log or timber when sawing it into boards, planks, etc.
- (nautical) The slack part of a sail.
- (US, slang) A large, luxury pre-1980 General Motors vehicle, particularly a Buick, Oldsmobile, or Cadillac.
2021 March 23, Peter Holley, “They Just Moved Into an Austin Neighborhood. Now They Want to End One of Its Traditions.”, in Texas Monthly:After a few loops around the park, some drivers—most of them Black and Latino men in their twenties and thirties driving customized lowriders, bright, candy-colored slabs, and jacked-up trucks with flashy chrome rims—packed into a nearby middle school parking lot.
- (surfing) A very large wave.
2009, Bruce Boal, The Surfing Yearbook, SurfersVillage, page 31:After being towed into a massive slab, Dorian dropped down the face and caught a rail, putting him in a near-impossible situation.
2011, Douglas Booth, Surfing: The Ultimate Guide, page 95:In August 2000 he successfully rode a slab of unfathomable power at Teahupo′o.
- (programming) The amount by which a cache can grow or shrink, used in memory allocation.
- (geology) Part of a tectonic plate that is being, or has been, subducted.
2015, Dapeng Zhao, Multiscale Seismic Tomography, Springer, page 72:Being driven by the gravitational force, the subducting Pacific slab continues to sink down to the boundary between the upper and lower mantle […]
- (construction) A poured-concrete foundation for a building.
- (geometry) A region between two parallel lines in the Euclidean plane, or between two parallel planes in three-dimensional Euclidean space, or between two hyperplanes in higher dimensions.
Derived terms
Translations
flat piece of material
- Armenian: սալ (hy) (sal)
- Bulgarian: плоча (bg) (ploča)
- Catalan: placa (ca) f, tauló (ca) m
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 鋼板/钢板 (zh) (gāngbǎn) (steel), 石板 (zh) (shíbǎn) (stone, marble), 水泥板 (shuǐníbǎn) (concrete), 厚板 (zh) (hòubǎn), 平板 (zh) (píngbǎn)
- Finnish: laatta (fi), levy (fi), kimpale (fi)
- French: chape (fr) f
- Galician: laxe (gl) f, placa (gl) f, lastra f, lamela (gl) f, lamia (gl) f, launa f
- German: Scheibe (de) f, Platte (de) f, Tafel (de) f, Bodenelement n, Wandelement n, Deckenplatte f
- Greek: πλάκα (el) f (pláka)
- Ancient: ἄβαξ m (ábax)
- Irish: leac f
- Italian: piastra (it) f, lastra (it) f, fetta (it) f, soletta f
- Japanese: 平板 (ja) (へいばん, heiban), スラブ (surabu)
- Portuguese: laje (pt) f
- Romanian: placă (ro)
- Russian: плита́ (ru) f (plitá)
- Slovene: tablica f, plošča (sl) f
- Spanish: plancha (es) f, tabla (es) f, lámina (es) f
- Swedish: skiva (sv), platta (sv) c
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paving stone
- Arabic: بَلَاط m (balāṭ)
- Armenian: սալաքար (hy) (salakʻar), սալ (hy) (sal)
- Basque: harlauza
- Bulgarian: плочка (bg) f (pločka)
- Catalan: llosa f
- Finnish: laatta (fi)
- French: dalle (fr) f
- Galician: lousa (gl) f, lastra f
- German: Fliese (de) f, Platte (de) f, Steinplatte (de) f, Fliesenplatte f, Gehwegplatte f, Steinfliese (de) f, Bodenplatte (de) f, Bodenfliese f, Pflasterstein (de) m, Pflasterplatte f
- Greek: πλάκα (el) f (pláka)
- Irish: leac f
- Italian: piastrella (it) f, mattonella (it) f, lastra (it) f
- Norwegian: steinhelle f
- Polish: płyta (pl) f
- Portuguese: laje (pt) f, placa (pt) f
- Romanian: dală (ro), lespede (ro)
- Russian: плита́ (ru) f (plitá)
- Slovene: tlakovec m
- Spanish: baldosa (es) f, adoquín (es) m, losa (es) f, laja (es) f
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Verb
slab (third-person singular simple present slabs, present participle slabbing, simple past and past participle slabbed)
- (transitive) To make something into a slab.
Etymology 2
Compare Goidelic and Irish slaib (“mud, mire left on a river strand”), and English slop (“puddle”).
Noun
slab (plural slabs)
- (archaic) Mud, sludge.
1664, J[ohn] E[velyn], Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. , London: Jo Martyn, and Ja Allestry, printers to the Royal Society, , →OCLC:Some do also plant oziers in their eights, like quick-sets, thick, and (near the water) keep them not more than half a foot above ground; but then they must be diligently cleansed from moss, slab, and ouze, and frequently prun'd (especially the smaller spires) to form single shoots; […] .
Derived terms
Adjective
slab (comparative more slab, superlative most slab)
- (archaic) Thick; viscous.
c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :Make the gruel thick and slab:
Etymology 3
Acronym of Slow, Loud And Bangin'. This term been popularized through the southern rap genre of hip-hop, most notably by rappers such as Paul Wall, Chamillionaire, Lil' Keke, and others.
Noun
slab (plural slabs)
- (Southern US, slang) A car that has been modified with equipment such as loudspeakers, lights, special paint, hydraulics, and other accessories.
- 2005, Chamillionaire (featuring Krayzie Bone), "Ridin'", The Sound of Revenge:
- Pull me over, try to check my slab
- 2006, Trae (featuring Pimp C and Big Hawk), "Swang", Restless:
- I'mma swang, I'mma swing my slab lean to the left
2012, Bobby Austin, By All Mean$, AuthorHouse, published 2012, →ISBN, page 56:All three of them recognized who the Lexus' belonged to so he parked his slab and they cocked their guns.
Etymology 4
Noun
slab (plural slabs)
- (British dialect, obsolete) A bird, the wryneck.
Etymology 5
From syllable.
Noun
slab (plural slabs)
- (computing) A sequence of 12 adjacent bits, serving as a byte in some computers.
References
Anagrams
Aromanian
Alternative forms
Etymology
From a Slavic language, ultimately from Proto-Slavic *slàbъ. Compare Romanian slab, Bulgarian and Macedonian слаб (slab), Serbo-Croatian slȁb.
Adjective
slab m (feminine slabã, masculine plural slaghi, feminine plural slabi or slabe)
- weak
- lean, thin, skinny
- bad, wicked, evil
Synonyms
Antonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Noun
slab m
- evil
Synonyms
Derived terms
Dutch
Pronunciation
Noun
slab f (plural slabben, diminutive slabbetje n)
- (also very common in the diminutive) bib
Italian
Etymology
Borrowed from English slab.
Noun
slab m (invariable)
- slab (of metal to be worked)
- Synonym: bramma
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from Old Church Slavonic слабъ (slabŭ), from Proto-Slavic *slàbъ. Compare Aromanian slab, Bulgarian and Macedonian слаб (slab), Serbo-Croatian slȁb.
Pronunciation
Adjective
slab m or n (feminine singular slabă, masculine plural slabi, feminine and neuter plural slabe)
- weak
- Antonym: puternic
- thin, skinny
- Antonym: gras
Declension
Related terms
See also
Serbo-Croatian
Etymology
Inherited from Proto-Slavic *slàbъ, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leh₂b- (“to be weak, limp, languid”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
slȁb (definite slȁbī, comparative slabiji, Cyrillic spelling сла̏б)
- weak
Declension
positive indefinite forms
singular
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masculine
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feminine
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neuter
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nominative
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slab
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slaba
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slabo
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genitive
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slaba
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slabe
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slaba
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dative
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slabu
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slaboj
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slabu
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accusative
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inanimate animate
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slab slaba
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slabu
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slabo
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vocative
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slab
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slaba
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slabo
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locative
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slabu
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slaboj
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slabu
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instrumental
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slabim
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slabom
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slabim
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plural
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masculine
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feminine
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neuter
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nominative
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slabi
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slabe
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slaba
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genitive
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slabih
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slabih
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slabih
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dative
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slabim(a)
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slabim(a)
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slabim(a)
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accusative
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slabe
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slabe
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slaba
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vocative
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slabi
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slabe
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slaba
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locative
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slabim(a)
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slabim(a)
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slabim(a)
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instrumental
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slabim(a)
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slabim(a)
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slabim(a)
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positive definite forms
singular
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masculine
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feminine
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neuter
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nominative
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slabi
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slaba
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slabo
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genitive
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slabog(a)
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slabe
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slabog(a)
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dative
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slabom(u/e)
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slaboj
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slabom(u/e)
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accusative
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inanimate animate
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slabi slabog(a)
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slabu
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slabo
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vocative
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slabi
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slaba
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slabo
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locative
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slabom(e/u)
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slaboj
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slabom(e/u)
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instrumental
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slabim
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slabom
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slabim
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plural
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masculine
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feminine
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neuter
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nominative
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slabi
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slabe
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slaba
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genitive
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slabih
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slabih
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slabih
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dative
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slabim(a)
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slabim(a)
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slabim(a)
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accusative
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slabe
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slabe
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slaba
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vocative
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slabi
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slabe
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slaba
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locative
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slabim(a)
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slabim(a)
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slabim(a)
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instrumental
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slabim(a)
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slabim(a)
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slabim(a)
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comparative forms
singular
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masculine
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feminine
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neuter
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nominative
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slabiji
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slabija
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slabije
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genitive
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slabijeg(a)
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slabije
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slabijeg(a)
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dative
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slabijem(u)
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slabijoj
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slabijem(u)
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accusative
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inanimate animate
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slabiji slabijeg(a)
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slabiju
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slabije
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vocative
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slabiji
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slabija
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slabije
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locative
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slabijem(u)
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slabijoj
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slabijem(u)
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instrumental
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slabijim
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slabijom
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slabijim
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plural
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masculine
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feminine
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neuter
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nominative
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slabiji
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slabije
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slabija
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genitive
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slabijih
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slabijih
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slabijih
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dative
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slabijim(a)
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slabijim(a)
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slabijim(a)
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accusative
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slabije
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slabije
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slabija
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vocative
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slabiji
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slabije
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slabija
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locative
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slabijim(a)
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slabijim(a)
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slabijim(a)
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instrumental
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slabijim(a)
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slabijim(a)
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slabijim(a)
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superlative forms
singular
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masculine
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feminine
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neuter
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nominative
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najslabiji
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najslabija
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najslabije
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genitive
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najslabijeg(a)
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najslabije
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najslabijeg(a)
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dative
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najslabijem(u)
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najslabijoj
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najslabijem(u)
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accusative
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inanimate animate
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najslabiji najslabijeg(a)
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najslabiju
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najslabije
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vocative
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najslabiji
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najslabija
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najslabije
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locative
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najslabijem(u)
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najslabijoj
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najslabijem(u)
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instrumental
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najslabijim
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najslabijom
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najslabijim
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plural
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masculine
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feminine
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neuter
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nominative
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najslabiji
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najslabije
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najslabija
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genitive
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najslabijih
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najslabijih
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najslabijih
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dative
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najslabijim(a)
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najslabijim(a)
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najslabijim(a)
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accusative
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najslabije
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najslabije
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najslabija
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vocative
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najslabiji
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najslabije
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najslabija
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locative
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najslabijim(a)
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najslabijim(a)
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najslabijim(a)
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instrumental
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najslabijim(a)
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najslabijim(a)
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najslabijim(a)
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Slovene
Etymology
From Proto-Slavic *slàbъ.
Pronunciation
Adjective
slȁb (comparative slȃbši, superlative nȁjslȃbši)
- bad (not good)
- weak
Inflection
This adjective needs an inflection-table template.
Derived terms
Further reading
- “slab”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran