adjective
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resembling or having the properties of oil
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containing or producing oil
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of oleaginous
First recorded in 1425–50; Middle English oliaginose, (from Middle French oléagineux), from Latin oleāgineus, oleāginius, oleāginus “pertaining to an olive tree,” derivative of olea “olive, olive tree” ( see origin at olive)
Explanation
If your archenemy remarks on your oleaginous skin, she's not giving you a compliment. She's calling you oily-faced. You can impress your friends by commenting on how disgustingly oleaginous your pizza is, or despair over the oleaginous state of an ocean bay after an oil spill. Either way, you're using a fancy word for greasy or oily. And if you run into a particularly slick car salesman, you can describe him as oleaginous too. The adjective oleaginous comes from the Latin root oleaginus, "of the olive."
Vocabulary lists containing oleaginous
All the King's Men
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Where the World Ends
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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.
Ragoravich is predictably oleaginous, a man with a file cabinet full of hidden agendas, but he is charmingly persuasive, and the money has already been wired into Maggie’s account.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 6, 2025
But the most villainous entity they encounter is a duplicitous schemer played with oleaginous insincerity by Hugh Grant.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 28, 2023
But she is conflicted about Rumsfeld, who comes off as both an oleaginous creep and a master political schemer.
From Washington Post • Feb. 11, 2019
Broadbent is unafraid of the oleaginous side of Gloucester, the way his mistreatment of his bastard son signals a smug complacency, which he then must break through to help his former king in secret.
From Slate • Sep. 28, 2018
They were filled with little black nuts, the oleaginous kernels of the palm fruit from which the layer of oil had been scraped off, and these were evidently worth little in their damaged condition.
From For Jacinta by Bindloss, Harold
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.
