Visual Dictionary: Unctuous
Welcome to Visual Dictionary, a series of posts about words that are better expressed in pictures.
This guy is unctuous.
He’s trying to sell you a used car with 250,000 miles on it, and telling you that, if you don’t like the car, you’ll easily be able to resell it for a profit on the internet, and also the car is a total babe magnet. Doesn’t this guy look like he would say “babe magnet”? Unctuous.
Slugs are often thought to be unctuous.
Seriously unctuous.
Unctuous means greasy or oily, like an unguent. But we often use the word as a metaphor. That guy with the phone — kind of gross, right? It’s like he’s sliming your brain.
Bill’s unctuous uncle called him up asking for money. “Look, nephew … I know I haven’t called you since you were six, but I’ve got this unguent business, and I just need a few thousand bucks to get it off the ground, and also pay my rent. I’ve always liked you better than your cousins.”
Bill wasn’t that gullible. He told his unctuous uncle, “I don’t want any part of your unguent business.”