unctuous

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin unctuōsus (“oily”), from Latin unctum, from unguere, ungere (“to anoint”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʌnktʃuəs/

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• Hyphenation: unc‧tu‧ous

Adjective

unctuous (comparative more unctuous, superlative most unctuous)

1. (of a liquid or substance) Oily or greasy.
   • 1851, Herman Melville, chapter 96, in Moby Dick:

     In a word, after being tried out, the crisp, shrivelled blubber, now called scraps or fritters, still contains considerable of its unctuous properties.

2. (of a wine, coffee, sauce, gravy etc.) Rich, lush, intense, with layers of concentrated, soft, velvety flavor.
   • 1872, Bayard Taylor, chapter 3, in Beauty and The Beast; and Tales of Home:

     The halls and passages of the castle were already permeated with rich and unctuous smells, and a delicate nose might have picked out and arranged, by their finer or coarser vapors, the dishes preparing for the upper and lower tables.

3. (by extension, of a person) Profusely polite, especially unpleasantly so and insincerely earnest.
   • 1857, Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers, Volume the Second, page 14 →ISBN

     Then he thoroughly disliked the tone of Mr. Slope's letter; it was unctuous, false, and unwholesome, like the man.

   • 1919, Stephen Leacock, chapter 8, in The Hohenzollerns in America:

     In superior circles, however, introduction becomes more elaborate, more flattering, more unctuous.

Synonyms

• (of a liquid): oleaginous, saponaceous, slimy; see also Thesaurus:unctuous
• (of wine, coffee, sauce, gravy etc.): savorous
• (profusely, especially unpleasantly, polite): creepy, effusive, groveling, oleaginous, slimy, sycophantic; see also Thesaurus:sycophantic

Derived terms

• unctuosity
• unctuously
• unctuousness
• ununctuous

 

Related terms

► English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₃engʷ-‎ (0 c, 8 e)

Translations

oily or greasy

• Catalan: untuós
• Dutch: olieachtig (nl), vettig (nl)
• Finnish: öljyinen (fi)
• French: onctueux (fr)
• Irish: ungthach

• Italian: untuoso (it)
• Portuguese: untuoso (pt)
• Russian: масляни́стый (ru) (masljanístyj), жи́рный (ru) (žírnyj)
• Spanish: untuoso (es)

taste: rich, lush, intense

• Dutch: romig (nl), rijk (nl)

• Finnish: täyteläinen (fi)

profusely polite

• Dutch: zalvend (nl), vleierig (nl)
• Finnish: liukas (fi), lipevä (fi)

• German: schmierig (de)
• Spanish: untuoso (es)

Further reading

• unctuous in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• unctuous in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• unctuous at OneLook Dictionary Search