- [uncountable] a type of dark grey stone that splits easily into thin flat layers
- a slate quarry
- The sea was the colour of slate.
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- [countable] a small thin piece of slate, used for covering roofs
- A loose slate had fallen from the roof.
- [countable] (North American English) a list of the candidates in an election
- a slate of candidates
- the Democratic slate
- [countable] a small sheet of slate in a wooden frame, used in the past in schools for children to write on
Word OriginMiddle English sclate, sklate, shortening of Old French esclate, feminine synonymous with esclat ‘piece broken off’, from esclater ‘to split’. Sense (2) of the verb arose from the practice of noting a name on a writing slate.
Idioms
See slate in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionarya blank canvas/slate
- a person or thing that has the potential to be developed or changed in many different ways
- The building is a blank canvas for a clever investor to potentially make a lot of money.
- Alice was a blank slate in the first film because she had memory loss and knew nothing about herself.
a clean slate/sheet
- a record of your work or behaviour that does not show any mistakes or bad things that you have done
- No government operates with a completely clean slate.
wipe the slate clean
- to agree to forget about past mistakes or arguments and start again with a relationshipTopics Discussion and agreementc2
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