unctuous |
American Heritage Dictionary (5 definitions)
- Characterized by affected, exaggerated, or insincere earnestness: "the unctuous, complacent court composer who is consumed with envy and self-loathing” (Rhoda Koenig).
- Having the quality or characteristics of oil or ointment; slippery.
- Containing or composed of oil or fat.
- Abundant in organic materials; soft and rich: unctuous soil.
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Synonyms: unctuous, fulsome, oily, oleaginous, smarmy
These adjectives mean insincerely, self-servingly, or smugly agreeable or earnest: an unctuous toady; gave the dictator a fulsome introduction; oily praise; oleaginous hypocrisy; smarmy self-importance.
–adjective
–Syntax Note
Century Dictionary (3 definitions)
GNU Webster's 1913 (3 definitions)
WordNet (1 definition)
Elsewhere on the web
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To us, 'unctuous' is much more of a texture than a flavor.
Stifling in unctuous sympathy of a harmless humanity.
- It was Bishop LoRocco's personal rendition of God speaking to Moses from the mountain -- unctuous, precise, reeking with righteousness.—Alfred Hitchcocks Mystery Magazine
M. de Guilleroy entered, shook hands warmly, excusing himself in unctuous words for having left them alone.
But Aliyev was still possessed of a certain unctuous charm, a parody of William Powell's parody of a regal smoothie.
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Pronunciations
/ (ŭngkˈcho͞o-əs)/
ahd pronounces "unctuous"
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Etymology
American Heritage Dictionary (1)
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Middle English, from Old French unctueus, from Medieval Latin ūnctuōsus, from Latin ūnctum, ointment, from neuter past participle of unguere, to anoint.
Century Dictionary
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