as in oily
overly or insincerely flattering
the office manager greeted the corporate bigwigs with an oleaginous welcome that should have embarrassed him
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Recent Examples of oleaginous
His widow doesn’t exactly look too broken up; less than a week after his death, Lee spots her snuggling with Dale’s brother Donald, an oleaginous candidate for governor played by Kyle MacLachlan.
—
Judy Berman, Time, 23 Sep. 2025
One defense, beginning in the late eighteen-hundreds, was flypaper, sheets of which were coated on one side with an oleaginous substance that lured flies, then permanently trapped them.
—David Owen, The New Yorker, 27 July 2024
Ted Cruz, the perennial front-runner, is smug and oleaginous—hated equally by his colleagues and the public.
—Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 26 Sep. 2022
The interludes make for juicy lampoons of that unfortunate Western export, oleaginous showbiz faux-intimacy.
—Peter Marks, Washington Post, 21 June 2022
The French state is represented effectively here by oleaginous High Commissioner De Roller (Magimel), a European long based in Tahiti.
—Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter, 27 May 2022
Trump cheapened the honor into near irrelevance by awarding it to Limbaugh, who died earlier this year, and then, on his way out the door in January, to two of his most oleaginous sycophants in Congress, Rep. Devin Nunes of California and Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.
—Eric Zorn, chicagotribune.com, 22 Apr. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for oleaginous
Adjective
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Skin1004 Centella Hyalu-Cica Water-Fit Sun Serum Say goodbye to the oily feel and white casts of sunscreen.—
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The serum’s texture is smooth and easily glides onto the skin, without leaving an oily residue.—
Adjective
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Over time, the stew evolved to an unctuous base made of rockfish, herbs, potatoes and tomatoes combined with fish stock, ground with a food mill and strained.—
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Long maturation sous voile, or under a veil of yeast, gives Vin Jaune a salty, earthen complexity, bold spice, and texture that’s satiny, even unctuous—perfect for rich soups and stews.—
Adjective
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Jin Shin has come across some monster potholes over the last couple of weeks, including one in Koreatown that rattled his car with a sickening thump and another near the airport where its depth was obscured by water.—
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Oil is a 20th century energy source, outmoded and responsible for sickening and killing millions of people with the potential to kill millions more.—
Adjective
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In a way, then, a documentary like Angus Wall’s Being Eddie, a generally amiable and adulatory 90 minutes streaming on Netflix, fails; with its softly hagiographic approach, the director never pushes Eddie Murphy to any place that feels untapped or confrontational, and therefore newsworthy.—
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Years of hagiographic media coverage and his immense social-media reach birthed legions of fanboys and nurtured a cult of personality.—
Adjective
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Slip off the control knobs and wash with hot, soapy water.—
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All that’s required is hot, soapy water and a sponge.—
Adjective
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Because the dopants are earth-abundant, the synthesis uses conventional solid-state processing, and no inert atmosphere is required, the approach aligns well with existing gigafactory infrastructure.—
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High ceilings in primary living areas will add a sense of space, as will numerous generously sized windows that provide abundant natural light.—
Adjective
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The Social Security Administration sent a gushy, questionable email July 4 to millions of people collecting Social Security benefits and others.—
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The chatter has only grown in recent days, after Ms. Anderson — who just celebrated a birthday — posted a story on her Instagram account, showing a lavish bouquet of flowers and a gushy card from an admirer.—
Cite this Entry
“Oleaginous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/oleaginous. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
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