Word.ws English Dictionary

unctions

unctions is the plural of unction.

Meaning of unction

Noun

unction (countable and uncountable, plural unctions)

  1. An ointment or salve.
    • The King himſelf the ſacred Unction made, / As King by Office, and as Prieſt by Trade: […]c. 1678 (date written; published 1682), J[ohn] Dryden, “Mac Flecknoe”, in Mac Flecknoe: A Poem. […] With Spencer’s Ghost: Being a Satyr Concerning Poetry. […], London: […] H[enry] Hills, […]...
  2. A religious or ceremonial anointing.
    • To be heir, and to be king / By sacred unction, thy deserved right.1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
  3. A balm or something that soothes.
  4. A quality in language, address or delivery which expresses sober and fervent emotion.
    • Krook almost smacks his lips with the unction of a horrible interest.1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, chapter XI, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC
  5. Unctuousness: A smug, exaggerated use of language; smarminess.
  6. Divine or sanctifying grace.

See all 7 meanings of unction

Questions about unctions

What is unctions the plural of?
Unctions is the plural of unction.

Words near unctions in the dictionary

  1. uncted
  2. uncting
  3. unction
  4. unctional
  5. unctionless
  6. unctions
  7. unctious
  8. unctiousness
  9. unctoria
  10. unctorium
  11. uncts

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: unctions (page history and authors); unction (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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Cite this entry: “unctions.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/unctions. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.