oleaginous

adjective ole·ag·i·nous \ ˌō-lē-ˈa-jə-nəs \

Definition of oleaginous

1 : resembling or having the properties of oil : oily; also : containing or producing oil

2 : marked by an offensively ingratiating manner or quality

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oleaginously

adverb

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oleaginousness

noun

oleaginous was our Word of the Day on 09/05/2014. Hear the podcast!

Examples of oleaginous in a Sentence

the office manager greeted the corporate bigwigs with an oleaginous welcome that should have embarrassed him

Recent Examples of oleaginous from the Web

The growing clamor for greasy bacon, sausages stuffed with supple lard, and pork chops oozing with deep, scrumptious, oleaginous flab is so strong, in fact, that a problem has developed.

— julie wernau, WSJ, "America Has a Bacon Problem: Our Pigs Aren’t Fat Enough," 28 July 2017
Open vats bubbled with a dark oleaginous resin used to remove feathers.

— yan cong, Smithsonian, "Is China Ground Zero for a Future Pandemic?," 25 Oct. 2017
The overall effect was like a school speech-ceremony, addressed by a too oleaginous guest speaker.

— The Economist, "Jeremy Corbyn’s Brighton speech marks the surrender of Labour’s moderates," 27 Sep. 2017
First, Tillerson was introduced by Tailgunner Ted Cruz, which got everyone's morning off to a fairly oleaginous start.

— charles p. pierce, Esquire, "This Might Be the Only Trump Cabinet Pick That Doesn't Make It Through," 11 Jan. 2017
Sometime around 2000, Sater got to know a neighbor, Tevfik Arif, an oleaginous former Soviet official from Kazakhstan.

— andrew rice, Daily Intelligencer, "The Original Russia Connection," 3 Aug. 2017
Smith is louder and more polarizing (thus creating more interest) where Bayless is an aging, oleaginous wrestling heel.

— richard deitsch, SI.com, "Media Mailbag: Would Bill Simmons return to ESPN?," 29 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'oleaginous.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

The oily oleaginous slipped into English through Middle French, coming from the Latin oleagineus, meaning "of an olive tree." Oleagineus itself is from the Latin olea, meaning "olive tree," and ultimately from the Greek elaia, meaning "olive." Oleaginous was at first used in a literal sense, as it still can be. An oleaginous substance is simply oily, and an oleaginous plant produces oil. The word took on its extended "ingratiating" sense in the 19th century.