oily
/ˈɔɪli/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.35 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Covered with or containing oil.
adj
adj
Excessively friendly or polite but insincere.
Example Sentences
- "oily machinery; oily rags; oily fish; oily cooking"
- "His clothes were apt to look oily and smell of eating-houses."
- "[…] overdressed young men of enigmatic appearance, with oily thick hair, shifty eyes, and hands covered with cheap rings, swaggered about smoking cigarettes and talking in loud, ostentatious voices."
- "Dyes listed with the word “lake” indicate the dye is a fat-soluble version, meaning it can dissolve in oily foods or drinks."
- "oily swells; oily seas"
- "There were no breakers and no waves, for not a breath of wind was stirring. Only a slight oily swell rose and fell like a gentle breathing, and showed that the eternal sea was still moving and living."
Etymology
From Middle English oylei, equivalent to oil + -y. Compare German ölig (“oily”), Swedish oljig (“oily”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: oylei