Similes for Smooth: Silk, Glass, Millponds and Clockwork

On this page13 sections

1. Quick picker
2. Smooth to the touch
3. Smooth water
4. Smooth food and drink
5. Smooth movement and things that run well
6. A smooth voice or sound
7. When smooth is not a compliment
8. Grammar: as smooth as or as smoothly as?
9. Words to use instead (and how they differ)
10. Mistakes to avoid
11. A short model paragraph
12. Practice
13. Quick answers

The most common similes for smooth are as smooth as silk, as smooth as glass, as smooth as a baby’s bottom, as smooth as butter and as smooth as marble. For water there is like a millpond or like a mirror; for things that run without trouble, like clockwork and like a well-oiled machine; for a voice, like honey or like velvet.

Smooth covers several different ideas: a surface with no bumps, water with no waves, food with no lumps, movement with no jolts, a sound with no rough edges, and a person whose charm may be a little too easy. The best simile depends on which of these you mean, so the lists below are grouped that way, each with a sentence showing it in use. If you are new to the term, figurative language explains how similes differ from metaphors and idioms.

Quick picker

Smooth to the touch

These describe how a surface feels under the hand. Most of them are old and familiar, which makes them clear but also easy to overuse.

• As smooth as silk. The standard simile for smooth, and the most flexible: it works for fabric, skin, hair, paint, and even a process (“the handover went as smooth as silk”). “After the conditioner her hair was as smooth as silk.”
• As smooth as satin. Close to silk, with a hint of shine. Good for fabric, paper and finishes: “The lacquer dried as smooth as satin.”
• As smooth as glass. Hard, flat and completely even. Use it for tiles, ice, a tabletop or a car’s paintwork: “The new floor was as smooth as glass, and just as slippery.”
• As smooth as marble. Hard, cool and polished. It suits stone, statues and pale skin in older writing: “The steps had been worn as smooth as marble by centuries of feet.”
• As smooth as a river pebble. Smoothness that comes from long wearing, which gives it a quiet, natural feel: “The handle of the old spade was as smooth as a river pebble.”
• As smooth as polished wood. Warm rather than cold, unlike glass or marble: “The banister was as smooth as polished wood can be, rubbed by a hundred years of hands.”
• As smooth as porcelain. Mostly for skin, especially pale, even skin: “Her skin was as smooth as porcelain.” It can sound a little old-fashioned or doll-like.
• As smooth as a baby’s bottom. Informal and a bit jokey. People use it about a close shave, a newly sanded board or a baby’s skin: “Two passes with the new razor and my chin was as smooth as a baby’s bottom.”
• As smooth as an egg / as smooth as a billiard ball. For a bald head. Both are light-hearted: “Under his cap, his head was as smooth as an egg.”

A note on velvet: velvet has a short pile, so “as smooth as velvet” really describes something soft and rich rather than slick. It is perfect for a voice or a wine, less exact for glass-like surfaces. For softness itself, see similes for soft.

Smooth water

Calm water has its own set of comparisons, and they are among the most natural in English.

• Like a millpond. Chiefly British. A millpond was the still pool kept behind a mill’s dam, so the image is water with no movement at all: “The sea was like a millpond the morning we crossed.”
• Like glass / as smooth as glass. The usual choice in American and British English alike: “At dawn the lake was as smooth as glass.” Sailors and rowers also call such water “glassy”.
• Like a mirror. Stresses the reflection as well as the calm: “The bay lay like a mirror, doubling every boat.”
• Like oil. A sea that is smooth but heavy, often before bad weather. It appears in sea stories more than in everyday talk: “The swell rolled in like oil, without a ripple on it.”

More water images, from rough to calm, are on similes for water and similes for calm.

Smooth food and drink

In food, smooth means two things: no lumps (a sauce, a soup, peanut butter) and no harshness (coffee, wine, whisky). Choose the simile for the one you mean.

• As smooth as cream. No lumps, rich in the mouth: “Blend the soup until it is as smooth as cream.”
• Like velvet. Rich and soft rather than thin. Wine writers use it a great deal: “The red slid down like velvet.”
• As smooth as butter. Soft and spreadable, or easy to cut: “Leave the icing out for ten minutes and it will spread as smooth as butter.”
• Like silk. Light and fine rather than heavy: “The custard set like silk.”
• As smooth as honey. Sweet and mellow, with no bite: “The coffee was as smooth as honey, with none of the usual bitterness.”

The adjectives are often more natural than a full simile here: a silky sauce, a velvety soup, a mellow whisky, a creamy purée. A menu or a recipe usually wants the adjective; a story can afford the simile.

Smooth movement and things that run well

When something runs without a hitch, English reaches for machines and graceful animals.

• Like clockwork. Regular and without problems: “The wedding ran like clockwork, right down to the speeches.”
• Like a well-oiled machine. A team or system that works together without friction: “By the third week the kitchen was running like a well-oiled machine.”
• Like a hot knife through butter. Moving through something with no resistance: “The new saw went through the plank like a hot knife through butter.” It is about ease, not gentleness.
• Like a swan. Gliding gracefully. People often add that a swan looks calm on top while paddling hard underneath, which makes it a good image for someone who looks relaxed under pressure: “She sailed through the interview like a swan.”
• Like a skater on fresh ice. Gliding, with no bumps: “The new train slid out of the station like a skater on fresh ice.”
• Like a dream. Informal: something that works perfectly. “The old car still drives like a dream.”
• As smooth as silk. Also used for events: “The move went as smooth as silk.” In careful writing, “went as smoothly as silk” or “went very smoothly” is safer (see the grammar note below).

Two common expressions here are not similes, because they have no like or as: smooth sailing (chiefly American) and plain sailing (chiefly British), both meaning easy progress. They are idioms built on a metaphor. If you are writing to someone before a move or a launch, other ways to say “I hope everything goes smoothly” has ready-made lines.

A smooth voice or sound

• Like honey. Warm, sweet and slow: “His voice poured out like honey.” It can also hint that the words are too sweet to trust.
• Like velvet. Low, rich and soft: “She sang the last verse in a voice like velvet.”
• Like warm butter. Easy and comforting, a little informal: “The late-night DJ had a voice like warm butter.”
• As smooth as silk. Effortless and even, with no catch or crack in it: “Her high notes were as smooth as silk.”

Sound is easy to get wrong with smoothness. “As smooth as a gentle breeze” or “as smooth as rustling leaves” mix up quiet with smooth: a breeze and leaves are soft sounds, but nothing about them is smooth. If you mean quiet or soothing, say so, or pick a different simile.

When smooth is not a compliment

Used about a person, smooth often means charming in a way that should make you careful. A “smooth talker” or a “smooth operator” gets what they want with easy words; Sade’s 1984 song “Smooth Operator” made the second phrase famous.

• As smooth as butter. Polished and persuasive, with a hint of insincerity: “The salesman was as smooth as butter until I asked about the contract.”
• As slippery as an eel. Impossible to pin down or catch out: “Ask him a straight question and he’s as slippery as an eel.”
• As slick as oil. Too polished, almost greasy. Close to the adjectives oily and smarmy.

Related but different: butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth is an idiom, not a simile, for someone who looks innocent but probably is not.

Grammar: as smooth as or as smoothly as?

After a verb of being or feeling, use the adjective: “The table is as smooth as glass,” “My skin feels as smooth as silk.” After an action verb, standard English wants the adverb: “The ceremony ran as smoothly as clockwork,” “The boat moved as smoothly as a swan.” In conversation many people say “it went smooth as silk,” and in casual writing that is fine, but in an essay or a report use smoothly.

You can also drop the first as in relaxed speech: “Her hair was smooth as silk.” Both versions are similes.

Words to use instead (and how they differ)

Mistakes to avoid

• “As smooth as a rolling stone.” A rolling stone, in the proverb “a rolling stone gathers no moss”, is a person who keeps moving on. It says nothing about smoothness, so readers will be puzzled. Use “as smooth as a river pebble”.
• Silk, satin and velvet are not interchangeable. Silk and satin are slick; velvet has a pile and feels soft. “A tabletop as smooth as velvet” sounds odd.
• Calling “smooth sailing” a simile. It has no like or as; it is an idiom.
• Mixing the senses without meaning to. “Her voice was as smooth as a freshly paved road” is technically a simile but brings tarmac into a love scene. Keep the comparison in the same world as the thing you describe.
• Stacking. “As smooth as silk, like glass, like a mirror” in one sentence weakens each image. One good simile is enough.
• Labelling metaphors as similes. “The stars were diamonds” is a metaphor (no like or as). “The stars shone like diamonds” is a simile.

A short model paragraph

The lake was like a millpond when we pushed off, and the canoe slid across it as smoothly as a skater on fresh ice. Grandad’s paddle, its handle worn as smooth as a river pebble, barely made a sound. By noon the wind had come up and the water was anything but glass, but for that first hour everything ran like clockwork.

Notice that each simile fits a different kind of smoothness (water, movement, wood, the trip itself), and the action verb slid takes smoothly.

Practice

A. Pick the better simile.

1. Blend the hummus until it is ______. (as smooth as cream / like a millpond)
2. There was no wind at all, and the sea was ______. (like a millpond / like clockwork)
3. The conference ran ______, with every session on time. (like clockwork / as smooth as marble)
4. He talked his way out of the fine; he’s ______. (as slippery as an eel / as smooth as a river pebble)
5. After sanding, the board felt ______. (as smooth as glass / like a hot knife through butter)

B. Adjective or adverb?

6. The ice was as (smooth / smoothly) as glass.
7. The handover went as (smooth / smoothly) as we had hoped.

C. Simile or not?

8. It was smooth sailing from then on.
9. Her voice was like velvet.
10. The floor was a sheet of glass.

Answers

1 as smooth as cream · 2 like a millpond · 3 like clockwork · 4 as slippery as an eel · 5 as smooth as glass · 6 smooth (after was) · 7 smoothly (after went) · 8 not a simile, an idiom · 9 simile · 10 metaphor

Quick answers

What is the most common simile for smooth?

“As smooth as silk”, followed closely by “as smooth as glass”. Silk is about feel; glass is about a hard, flat surface.

What is a simile for smooth skin?

“As smooth as silk”, “as smooth as porcelain” or, informally, “as smooth as a baby’s bottom”. For something gentler and less clichéd, compare skin to the inside of a shell or to a sea-worn stone.

What is a simile for calm, smooth water?

“Like a millpond” (British), “like glass” or “like a mirror”.

What is a simile for a smooth voice?

“Like honey” or “like velvet”. Honey suggests warmth and sweetness; velvet suggests a low, rich tone.

What does “as smooth as flowing water” mean?

Moving easily, without stops or jolts: “Her playing was as smooth as flowing water.” It describes movement or performance rather than a surface.

Is “smooth as silk” a cliché?

Yes, but a useful one in speech and plain writing. In a story or poem, try a comparison that comes from the scene itself: a banister rubbed smooth by generations of hands says more than silk does.