oily
Americanadjective
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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:
Videos posted to social media have shown apocalyptic scenes of a burning liquid oozing down the street, and the persistent smoke has prompted complaints of a “black rain” that leaves an oily residue.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026
The finished dish is buttery and oily in all the right ways.
From Salon ● May 1, 2026
These targets can be achieved by eating more oily fish, such as salmon or mackerel, or through supplementation where needed.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 9, 2025
“It just felt weird. Just like oily, slippery,” forward Rui Hachimura said Friday morning.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 28, 2025
Skunks spray an oily liquid from glands underneath their tails as a defense.
From "A Boy Called Bat" by Elana K. Arnold
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
Salmon, which is flakier, is also a good starter fish, because thicker fillets are common and it is oilier, meaning it brings its own “nonstickability,” Zuccarello said.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 17, 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
“I would say she has more than a tangle in her yarn,” she said, her voice one shade oilier than normal.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
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
Of course the oiliest of oils are animal fats, good lard, and genuine sperm; but they work down very thin and run away, and genuine sperm oil is almost an unknown quantity.
From Two Thousand Miles on an Automobile Being a Desultory Narrative of a Trip Through New England, New York, Canada, and the West, By "Chauffeur" by Eddy, Arthur Jerome
"You are welcome to this compartment," he assured her in his oiliest manner.
From Visionaries by Huneker, James
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.
