oily
/ˈɔɪli/
oily adjective: covered with or containing oil.
Adjective
oily (comparative oilier, superlative oiliest)
- Covered with or containing oil.
- oily machinery; oily rags; oily fish; oily cooking
- His clothes were apt to look oily and smell of eating-houses.1853, Herman Melville, “Bartleby, the Scrivener”, in The Piazza Tales, New York: Dix, Edwards & Co, published 1856
- Resembling oil.
- 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.1895 May 29, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “After the Story”, in The Time Machine: An Invention, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, page 195
- Excessively friendly or polite but insincere.
- Near-synonyms: slick, buttery; smarmy
- […] for I want that glib and oyly Art,
To ſpeake and purpoſe not, ſince what I well entend
Ile do’t before I ſpeake, […]c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […]...
Noun
oily (plural oilies)
- A marble with an oily lustre.
- Lustered (also called lusters, rainbows, oilies, and pearls).1998, Joanna Cole, Stephanie Calmenson, Michael Street, Marbles: 101 ways to play
- But marbles are not only used to play games: they are also traded. In this market, the value of the different kinds of marbles (oilies, emperors, etc.) is determined by local supply and demand and not by the price of the marbles […]2001, Paul Webley, The economic psychology of everyday life, page 39
- Oilskins. (waterproof garment)
oily meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
oily in Hindi
- तैलीय, तैली
oily in Tamil
- எண்ணெய் உடைய
oily in Marathi
- covered with or containing oil
- तेलकट telkaṭ
oily in Urdu
- the oily or fatty gravy of stew
- روغن rauġan
More languagesFewer languages
- oily in Bengali
- তেলা tela, স্নিগ্ধ snigdho
- oily in Telugu
- జిడ్డుగలది, జిడ్డుగల
- oily in Malayalam
- എണ്ണമയമുള്ള
- oily in Kannada
- ಎಣ್ಣೆಯುಕ್ತ
- oily in Punjabi
- ਤੈਲੀ
- oily in Gujarati
- તૈલી, તૈલીય, તેલયુક્ત
- oily in Odia
- ତେଲିଆ teliā
- oily in Sanskrit
- स्निग्ध snigdha
- oily in Assamese
- তেলীয়া telia, তেলাল telal
- oily in Arabic
- زَيْتِيّ zaytiyy, دُهْنِيّ duhniyy
- oily in Malay
- berminyak
- oily in Persian
- روغنی rowġani
Examples of oily in a sentence
- […] 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.1917, Robert Hichens, Wilderness, Chapter:
- Dyes listed with the word “lake” indicate the dye is a fat-soluble version, meaning it can dissolve in oily foods or drinks.2025 March 29, Kristen Rogers, “Over half of US states are trying to eliminate food dyes. Here’s what you can do now”, in CNN:
- ‘He had an inflexible will beneath all that oily kindness which passed for spiritual […]’1914, Algernon Blackwood, The Damned:
Synonyms of oily
Forms of oily
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | oilier |
| superlative | oiliest |
| alternative form (obsolete) | oyly |
| Noun | |
| plural | oilies |
Origin of oily
From Middle English oylei, equivalent to oil + -y. Compare German ölig (“oily”), Swedish oljig (“oily”).
Words formed from oily
Phrases with oily
Words that rhyme with oily
Questions about oily
- What does oily mean?
- Oily means covered with or containing oil.
- What is oily in Hindi?
- Oily in Hindi is तैलीय, तैली. See Oily meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use oily in a sentence?
- […] 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.
- What part of speech is oily?
- Oily can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce oily?
- Oily is pronounced /ˈɔɪli/.
Words near oily in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: oily (page history and authors); oily (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); oily (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); روغن (Urdu) (page history and authors); তেলা (Bengali) (page history and authors); oily (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); oily (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); oily (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); oily (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); oily (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); स्निग्ध (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-oily.wav.
Cite this entry: “oily.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/oily. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.