Oily Meaning
/ˈɔɪli/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjCovered with or containing oil.
adjResembling oil.
Sentence Examples
My clothes have an oily smell because I ate at an okonomiyaki place.
She has oily skin.
I didn't eat all the fries because they were too oily.
CEFR Practice Quiz
After fixing the leaky engine, his hands were ____ and needed washing.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The mechanic's hands were ____ after spending the afternoon working under the car engine.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English oylei, equivalent to oil + -y. Compare German ölig (“oily”), Swedish oljig (“oily”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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:
"[…] 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:
"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:
"[…] 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, […], published 1608, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
After fixing the leaky engine, his hands were ____ and needed washing.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The mechanic's hands were ____ after spending the afternoon working under the car engine.