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
- adj. Oily, greasy.
- adj. Falsely or affectedly earnest; persuasively suave.
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 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.
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’.
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Describing the Taste of Foods
yummy, zesty, piquant, pungent, sharp, spicy, poignant, delicious, ambrosial, appetizing, delectable, heavenly and 194 more...
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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 1128 more...
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Ayatollah's list
Trinkets of lexical goodness.
floccinaucinihili..., quomodocunquize, curmudgeon, illaqueate, ipsissimosity, heterochthonous, hakenkreuz, forisfamiliate, appropinquate, apodyopsis, baryphony, cachinnate and 146 more...
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cicatrix
scar tissue
minatory, naira, Cluniac, embracive, prolix, hierophant, timorous, adduce, veracious, dysphoric, sang-froid, vitiate and 414 more...
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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...
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SeanCroft's list
oleaginous, antelucan, anemones, duennes, pluterperfect, peritoneal, peritoneum, abattoir, accouchement, morganatic, teratalogy, dysmorphology and 21 more...
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Words describing singing voices
mellifluous, gravelly, rusty bathtub, velvet fog, howling, laconic, fluttering, quavery, hypnotic, stilted, lilting, sonorous and 20 more...
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-ginous
scaturiginous, imaginous, favaginous, perliginous, ferruginous, lanuginous, lentiginous, mucilaginous, plumbaginous, ambaginous, fuscoferuginous, rubiginous and 12 more...
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yum. delicious description
sycophantic, doughface, unctuous, sebaceous, oleaginous, diabolic, ostent, sudatory, bulbous, pustule, bauble, trinket and 6 more...
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oleo-, ole-
relating to or containing oil
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