Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Excessively ingratiating or insincerely earnest.
- adjective Containing or composed of oil or fat.
- adjective Having the quality or characteristics of oil or ointment; slippery.
- adjective Abundant in organic materials; soft and rich.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Of the nature of or resembling an unguent or ointment; greasy; oily; fat; soapy.
- oily, or soapy feel when rubbed or touched by the fingers—a characteristic of steatite, talc, serpentine, and other magnesian minerals, due to the magnesia which they contain.
- Having or characterized by unction; tending to religious fervor; especially, falsely or affectedly fervid, devotional, emotional, gushing, or the like; excessively bland or suave.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Of the nature or quality of an unguent or ointment; fatty; oily; greasy.
- adjective Having a smooth, greasy feel, as certain minerals.
- adjective Bland; suave; also, tender; fervid; ; sometimes, insincerely suave or fervid.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective of a liquid or fatty substance
Oily orgreasy . - adjective of a wine, coffee, etc.
Rich ,lush ,intense , with layers of concentrated,soft ,velvety flavor. - adjective by extension, of a person
Profusely polite , especiallyunpleasantly so andinsincerely earnest .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective unpleasantly and excessively suave or ingratiating in manner or speech
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The staff in unctuous to regulars and condescending to those of us who still dress as if we lived in Seattle.
Look No Further: Seattle’s Best Dining Deal « PubliCola 2010
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Now, I don't know if my unctuous is the same as your unctuous, you know, so - but it came out great.
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Now, I don't know if my unctuous is the same as your unctuous, you know, so - but it came out great.
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Now, I don't know if my unctuous is the same as your unctuous, you know, so - but it came out great.
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Everyone will recall the unctuous Walter Cronkite, a man with a face only a nation could love, interviewing an out-of-control Mayor Richard J. Daley, a man with a face that during that convention a whole nation came to loathe.
A Secret Good Place 2008
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BTW: the word "unctuous" used above is not a misspelling.
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And then I tasted it, and it, you know, had this kind of unctuous, porty richness, which is characteristic of that wine -- that it sort of resembles port in a lot of ways.
Benjamin Wallace on the price of happiness Benjamin Wallace 2008
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And then I tasted it, and it, you know, had this kind of unctuous, porty richness, which is characteristic of that wine -- that it sort of resembles port in a lot of ways.
Benjamin Wallace on the price of happiness Benjamin Wallace 2008
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And then I tasted it, and it, you know, had this kind of unctuous, porty richness, which is characteristic of that wine -- that it sort of resembles port in a lot of ways.
Benjamin Wallace on the price of happiness Benjamin Wallace 2008
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This kind of unctuous posturing doesn't exactly make traditionalists insecure in their position; it tends to make traditionalists cranky, because the hypocrisy is pretty evident.
Hillary's strange way of opposing the South Carolina flag. Ann Althouse 2007
nicsims commented on the word unctuous
-excessive piousness
-oily or soapy feel
September 14, 2007
oroboros commented on the word unctuous
Greasy uncle?
October 9, 2007
seanahan commented on the word unctuous
"Now we can all be unctuous British gossip bitches" - Jordan McDeere, Studio 60
October 9, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word unctuous
See also extreme unction, which I certainly hope someone has listed on their "Catholic Words" list...
October 9, 2007
reesetee commented on the word unctuous
Have no fear. Sionnach's on it. :-)
October 9, 2007
yarb commented on the word unctuous
'The coffee is free,'
an unctuous maître d'hôtel
once told him at lunch.
'If it's free it is ghastly,
or you, sir, are a jackass.'
- Peter Reading, Limns, from Tom O' Bedlam's Beauties, 1981
June 28, 2008
milosrdenstvi commented on the word unctuous
This word is the first that comes to mind to describe Mr. Collins from Pride and Prejudice.
August 5, 2008
5814738 commented on the word unctuous
"Isaac had been staring anxiously at the class when that unctuous bastard Vermishank had looked in." From Perdido Street Station by China Meiville.
September 18, 2011