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unctuous

UK/ˈʌŋ(k)t͡ʃʊəs/US/ˈʌŋ(k)(t)ʃəwəs/
adjectiveC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,910 of 15,258neutral

Unctuous means oily and insincerely flattering. An unctuous manner, unctuous praise, unctuous politeness.

The literal sense is greasy, and the figurative sense keeps the feel of it exactly. It is aimed at people who are too smooth to be believed, especially in service jobs.

Definitions of unctuous

  1. 1adjectiveunctuousOily and insincerely flattering.C2

    “The head waiter was unctuous to the point of parody.”

unctuous is a quality.

Where it comes from

Medieval Latin unctuosus means greasy, from unctum, ointment, from unguere, to anoint.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *h₃engʷ- — to anoint; to smear

  2. Latin

    ūnctum — ointment; rich banquet; rich savoury dish

  3. Medieval Latin

    ūnctuōsus — greasy, oily, unctuous

  4. Middle English

    unctuous

  5. English, today

    unctuous

Built from

  • unguō · Latin — to anoint; to smear with oil, to grease or oil

From Late Middle English unctuousunctouus, unctuos, unctuose, unctuouse, unctuus, ungtuous, borrowed from Medieval Latin ūnctuōsus (“greasy, oily, unctuous”), from Latin ūnctum (“ointment; rich banquet; rich savoury dish”) + -ōsus. 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”). 2

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

unctuous in the wild

  • The play charts Joan's battle with Pierpont Mauler, the unctuous owner of a meat-packing plant.

    Saint Joan of the Stockyards

  • Other critics have been less positively impressed; the philosopher Roger Scruton has written of the quintet's "unctuous narcissism".

    Piano Quintet (Franck)

  • Two other key figures are the unctuous Solem and Miss Thorsen, whom the protagonist cannot help but fall in love with.

    The Last Joy

  • The tears of it are of an unctuous nature, and are employed as an ingredient in unguents, to modify the harshness of the oil.

    The Natural History of Pliny, Volume 3 (of 6)· Pliny the Elder

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

From Project Gutenberg, public domain. These sentences are from real books, shown to illustrate the word at work.