Unctuous vs Syncophantic - What's the difference?
unctuous | syncophantic |
(of a liquid or fatty substance) Oily or greasy.
* 1851 , , Moby Dick , ch. 96:
Rich, lush, intense, with layers of concentrated, soft, velvety flavor.
* 1872 , , Beauty and The Beast; and Tales of Home , ch. 3:
(by extension, of a person) Profusely polite, especially unpleasantly so and insincerely earnest.
* 1857 , , Volume the Second, page 14 (ISBN 1857150570)
* 1919 , , The Hohenzollerns in America , ch. 8:
unctuous
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- In a word, after being tried out, the crisp, shrivelled blubber, now called scraps or fritters, still contains considerable of its unctuous properties.
- The halls and passages of the castle were already permeated with rich and unctuous smells, and a delicate nose might have picked out and arranged, by their finer or coarser vapors, the dishes preparing for the upper and lower tables.
- Then he thoroughly disliked the tone of Mr. Slope's letter; it was unctuous , false, and unwholesome, like the man.
- In superior circles, however, introduction becomes more elaborate, more flattering, more unctuous .