as in oily
overly or insincerely flattering
a typically soapy introduction for the guest speaker at the organization's annual banquet
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Recent Examples of soapy
This is a soapy comedy-drama about living in West Texas and working in the petroleum industry — and though the cartel theatrics and traditional crime-drama beats kick in from time to time, Sheridan is more interested in day-to-day life.
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Ben Rosenstock, Vulture, 23 Nov. 2025
When Rudd, 55, appeared on Fallon's late night show to promote his new A24 movie Death of a Unicorn on Thursday, March 27, Fallon, 50, noted that Rudd has performed in just about every genre of film, television and theater one could imagine — except for the soapiest of soap operas.
—Tommy McArdle, People.com, 28 Mar. 2025
There is just cause for the soapier parts: Manet was married, and Morisot wed his brother.
—Julie Belcove, Robb Report, 23 Nov. 2024
The group that seems to have inspired Reid is Fleetwood Mac, which, with its shifting intramural love relationships, sundry drug problems and issues of control — the soapiest of rock’s many operas — was a romance novel/miniseries waiting to happen.
—Robert Lloydtelevision Critic, Los Angeles Times, 2 Mar. 2023
See All Example Sentences for soapy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for soapy
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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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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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.—
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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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.—
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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.—
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.—
Cite this Entry
“Soapy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/soapy. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
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