oily
Americanadjective
-
soaked in or smeared with oil or grease
-
consisting of, containing, or resembling oil
-
flatteringly servile or obsequious
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of oily
Explanation
Oily things are greasy, slippery, or covered with oil — think a bowl of oily pasta or the oily garage floor after you've been tinkering with your motorcycle's engine. Anything containing oil, covered in oil, or resembling oil is oily. A batch of muffins might taste weirdly oily when you use too much butter, and the rags lying around a car repair shop are mostly black and oily. Your brother's hair will probably be pretty oily after he refuses to wash it for a month. Since the sixteenth century, oily has also had the figurative meaning of "insincerely flattering or slick," like an oily car salesman.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In a video watched 2.8 million times, a foreign reviewer described it as "kind of like chewy tofu" and "very oily".
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
Mr. Rechner’s oily delivery suggests a guy who hasn’t read the figurative room.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
Muenster is less assertive but more accommodating: its mild butteriness stands beside the sauce without competing, and it softens agreeably in summer warmth without becoming stringy or oily.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2026
“This is an industrial area, and there’s plenty of stuff around to catch fire,” he said, sidestepping a dribble of oily water.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2026
They sat in the living room with photos of Arize and Nnakwanze’s wedding on the oily wall, while Baby played with the children in the compound.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Using shampoo every day, Alam said, can be the right choice for people with oilier scalps where sebum can accumulate, making the hair limp, greasy and possibly smelly.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 11, 2023
The rice in the thieboudienne here was broken, and oilier than in the versions I’d eaten in New York and Paris, probably because of palm oil, which is harder to procure in the West.
From New York Times ● Nov. 11, 2021
She features 70 recipes for white-fleshed fish, such as cod, haddock or sole; oilier fish, such as salmon and mackerel; and shellfish, including shrimp, squid and clams.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 12, 2021
In Asia-Pacific, this rise in deep-cleansing products was attributed to mask-related issues, including issues like oilier skin and acne, as well as an increase in hygiene habits due to Covid-19.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2020
And in a voice oilier than the one before, he’d answer with a straight face, “From the Uglies.”
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
Deravian remembers her mother standing at the stove, snacking on the stubborn scraps still left in the pot: “The crackliest, oiliest, tastiest bits.”
From New York Times ● Nov. 11, 2021
Oil is the dirtiest industry in the world and Chevron, one the world's largest companies, must be the oiliest.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 18, 2011
Bodanzky is, at the same time, the gayest and j oiliest of companions, who gives huge laughter to comic tales and sits like a great paladin to watch a game of cards.
From Time Magazine Archive
Mr. Everope," said he, in the oiliest tones possible, "I ask your pardon for my impertinent intrusion.
From Trevethlan: Volume 1 A Cornish Story. by William Davy Watson
"Parsifal," he declared, with true Celtic love of exaggeration, "to be the oiliest flattery ever poured down the open throat of a liquorish humanity."
From Evelyn Innes by George (George Augustus) Moore
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
