Synonyms for smarmy
- adjective
Most common
All synonyms
Adjective
1. Unctuous — falsely earnest, smug, ingratiating, or pious
unctuous, smug, oleaginous, obsequious, ingratiating, insincere, chummy, oily, greasy, fulsome, gushing, flattering, soapy, buttery, toadyish, sycophantic, fawning
Definitions
- adj. 1
Falsely earnest, smug, ingratiating, or pious.
a smarmy salesman with a big smile
Related words
- Word family
- smarm smarmily smarminess
- Other spellings
- schmarmy
Example sentences
- smug If you were less smug, you might have more friends.
- obsequious Obsequious people make me feel uncomfortable.
- unctuous They resented how his unctuous flattery tended to obtrude into serious meetings.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| smarmy | rising | |
| smug | rising | |
| obsequious | rising | |
| unctuous | rising | |
| oleaginous | falling |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 4 letters
- oily2, smug1
- 5 letters
- soapy2
- 6 letters
- greasy2, chummy2
- 7 letters
- gushing2, buttery3, fawning2, fulsome2
- 8 letters
- unctuous2, toadyish
- 9 letters
- insincere3
- 10 letters
- flattering3, obsequious4, oleaginous5
- 11 letters
- sycophantic4
- 12 letters
- ingratiating5
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (oily2 = 2 syllables).