unctuous
Adjective Satellite
- unpleasantly and excessively suave or ingratiating in manner or speech
- "the unctuous Uriah Heep"
Adj
- Having the nature or properties of an unguent or ointment; greasy, oily.
- Having fat or oil present; fatty, greasy, oily.
- Of an aroma or taste, or a beverage (such as coffee or wine) or food (such as gravy, meat, or sauce): having layers of concentrated, velvety flavour; lush, rich.
- Of soil: soft and sticky.
- Of a person:
- Complacent, self-satisfied, smug.
- Of a person:
- Profusely polite, especially in an insincere and unpleasant manner.
Adjective
- Excessively smooth, greasy, or insincerely earnest.
Examples
- His UNCTUOUS smile after a clever Words With Friends play belied his ruthless strategic mind.
Origin / Etymology
From Late Middle English unctuous [and other forms], borrowed from Medieval Latin ūnctuōsus (“greasy, oily, unctuous”), from Latin ūnctum (“ointment; rich banquet; rich savoury dish”) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of; overly’ forming adjectives from nouns). Ūnctum is a noun use of the perfect passive participle of unguō (“to anoint; to smear with oil, to grease or oil”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃engʷ- (“to anoint; to smear”).
Cognates
* Italian untuoso
* Old French onctües, unctueus, unctuose (modern French onctueux)
* Portuguese unctuoso
* Spanish untuoso
Synonyms
buttery, fulsome, oily, oleaginous, smarmy, soapy, adipose, asslicky, butyraceous, fatty, fawning, greasy, groveling, ingratiating, lardaceous, mellowy, obsequious, pinguid, saponaceous, savorous, schmoozy, sebaceous, self-abasing, slaistery, slimy, sycophantic, toadying, toadyish, truckling, unctious, unctuose, unctuous, unguinous, waxy
Antonyms
Scrabble Score: 10
unctuous: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordunctuous: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
unctuous: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary