teflon
/ˈtɛflɒn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.81 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
A brand name of polytetrafluoroethylene (“PTFE”) products, latterly applied to other fluoropolymer products.
noun
Multiple film, resin, coatings, fabric and surface protectors made with PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) or fluoropolymer and surfactants not made with PTFE.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "...tweeting in defiance at all those horrendous scandals that were meant to destroy his campaign. He made teflon look sticky."
- "Look at that there fool playing dirty tricks He must be made of Teflon 'cause nothing ever sticks Dancing 'round the room while farting in the breeze Friends huff it down like it's American cheese"
- "a Teflon image"
- "But Ronald Reagan, by everybody's definition, was the Teflon president, and it wasn't that the media tried to touch him and failed."
- "He would have called the man by his first name and said, Not at all, so and so, but though he was very good at remembering names where clients were concerned, there was something very Teflon about these guys and nothing about them was sticking with him."
- "the teflon Prime Minister"
Etymology
Trade name, 1940s. From the first letters of tetra- (“four”) + fluoro- (“fluorine”) + -on modeled after nylon etc. From the fluorine count of polytetrafluoroethylene.
Usage
Inflected Forms
Teflons (plural)
more teflon (comparative)
most teflon (superlative)