Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of or relating to oil.
- adj. Falsely or smugly earnest; unctuous: oleaginous flattery. See Synonyms at unctuous.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Having the qualities of oil; oily; unctuous.
- Figuratively, effusively and affectedly polite or fawning; sanctimonious; oily.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Having the nature or qualities of oil; oily; unctuous.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. unpleasantly and excessively suave or ingratiating in manner or speech
- adj. containing an unusual amount of grease or oil
Etymologies
- From French oléagineux, from Latin oleāginus, from olea ("the olive fruit and tree"). (Wiktionary)
- From Middle English oliaginose and from French oléagineux (from Old French), both from Latin oleāginus, of the olive tree, from olea, olive tree, alteration (influenced by oleum, olive oil) of olīva; see olive. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Amanda Platell, in the Daily Mail, wrote of the "tawdry, inexorable decline of Hugh Grant" whom she described as an "oleaginous, womanising lounge lizard".”
“Funny, isn't it, how Coulter drops ridiculous constructions like "oleaginous", but doesn't seem to know the meaning of the word "specious".”
“This kind of oleaginous 'repentence' is a growth industry for the '00s.”
“To avoid abrasions most all Scandinavian operators use some kind of oleaginous substance.”
“Boswell, he points out, was vain and lecherous, "oleaginous" in manner and”
WN.com - Articles related to PCB hopes Khan resumes captaincy
“And just think, if we ever achieve proper reform and a genuinely proportional system, we might see the splitting apart of the big old parties and perhaps a genuinely progressive, genuinely viable alternative to the preening, self serving, oleaginous Labour Party, which has failed everyone in this country who claims a leftist or liberal bent, will emerge.”
The Guardian: Constitutional reform: Alternative currents | Editorial
“Rubbish on the floor, a meal on a table, a crisp french fry dipped in still-glistening oleaginous ketchup.”
“Joining her was mezzo-soprano Jane Henschel, with a delightfully oleaginous rendering of Clytemnestra that brought the bloodletting adulteress to new heights of malevolence.”
“As physicians we have long relinquished autonomy in the field of science and medicine to the oleaginous interests of industry.”
The Huffington Post: Qanta Ahmed, MD: Collateral Damage: The Hidden Costs of the Ariel Boycott
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘oleaginous’.
-
Iaan
dirigisme, dystopia, cacotopia, ex ante, veritable, indefatigable, curmudgeon, desultory, antediluvian, transmogrify, pendent, elongate and 268 more...
-
Describing the Taste of Foods
yummy, zesty, piquant, pungent, sharp, spicy, poignant, delicious, ambrosial, appetizing, delectable, heavenly and 194 more...
-
Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
-
phrontistery - o
from phrontistery.info
oakum, oakus, oast, obambulate, obdormition, obduracy, obedible, obedientiary, obeism, obeliscolychny, obelize, obelus and 504 more...
-
IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
veal, valve, used, yak, wax, wan, teak, vat, vas, strip, use, strap and 4515 more...
-
Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2042 more...
-
cicatrix
scar tissue
minatory, naira, Cluniac, embracive, prolix, hierophant, timorous, adduce, veracious, dysphoric, sang-froid, vitiate and 503 more...
-
Words describing singing voices
mellifluous, gravelly, rusty bathtub, velvet fog, howling, laconic, fluttering, quavery, hypnotic, stilted, lilting, sonorous and 46 more...
-
SeanCroft's list
oleaginous, antelucan, anemones, duennes, pluterperfect, peritoneal, peritoneum, abattoir, accouchement, morganatic, teratalogy, dysmorphology and 21 more...
-
Words to Describe The Taste of Food
This list seeks to address a pet annoyance of mine. It occurs when chefs, food critics and travel writers, usually on television, taste something that looks either delicious or unusual and then in...
unctuous, sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami, piquant, savory, tangy, luscious, delectable, brackish and 66 more...
-
Favorite adjectives - sinfully delici...
words that, when used in an unusual context, make you stop, stare, and read the sentence over and over again. LisaWrites - resource
sycophantic, doughface, unctuous, sebaceous, oleaginous, diabolic, ostent, sudatory, bulbous, pustule, bauble, trinket and 6 more...
-
-ginous
scaturiginous, imaginous, favaginous, perliginous, ferruginous, lanuginous, lentiginous, mucilaginous, plumbaginous, ambaginous, fuscoferuginous, rubiginous and 12 more...
-
Cold comfort farm again
cowdling, dormer, mullion, scullion, snood, snoot, scranlet, kith, oleaginous, lambency, dissever, loafing and 27 more...
-
Knee Deep in Chic
Words, prose, bon mots, and literary styles that cause a contagious enthusiasm by its very existence. They can be muses to a story. rekindling the spark that went out. The cure-all elixir to a bla...
euphuism, quiddity, saudade, zugzwang, razbliuto, parti pris, oleaginous, crevasse, chantepleure, chiaroscuro, prestidigitation, dysphemism and 79 more...
-
apjoseph's words
insurmountable, ubiquitous, unequivocal, incumbent, asinine, amenable, sycophants, precarious, malevolent, gregarious, raison detra, nefarious and 200 more...
-
Just 'cause I like 'em, O
opacity, opaline, olfactory, orthoepy, orthoepy, oleaginous, obloquy, oasitic, obtrude, orthotic, overweening, ostinato and 125 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for oleaginous.
Casey "Something swirled oleaginously through a huge vat of liquid mud: she saw toothy tentacles slapping at her and scouring the tank." From Perdido Street Station by China Mieville. Dec 4, 2011
milosrdenstvi Rather like unctuous. I'm not sure which I like better! Aug 16, 2008
ofravens It comes from "craie," the French word for "chalk," and "ola," for "oleaginous," or "oily." -- Wikipedia's article about Crayola. Aug 16, 2008