smarmy
/ˈsmɑːmi
/adjective (smarmier, smarmiest) informal
Ingratiating and wheedling in a way that is regarded as insincere or excessive: a smarmy, unctuous reply...
- Pretty, sweet, charming and as far from the slick, besuited, smarmy sort of double glazing type sales rep I had expected.
- Never mind that as he reads from the monitor, Springer radiates smarmy insincerity.
- And yeah the characters can be annoying sometimes, but they're not nearly as smarmy as most other sitcoms, so it's ahead by default.
Synonyms
unctuous, ingratiating, smooth, slick, oily, greasy, fulsome, flattering, obsequious, sycophantic, fawning
informal slimy, sucky, soapy
Derivatives
smarmily
- Simon notes that he's going hatless and being a bit smarmily please-the-parents-y: ‘I prefer the other side of you, to be honest.’
- For eighty-six years the Sox bore the terrible curse - the burnt devil mark of the demon Yankees, smarmily collecting win upon win with a sense of bloated entitlement.
- They'll all be there with their snouts in the trough; all grinning smarmily and slapping backs; all trying to outdo each other with acts of screaming political correctness.
smarminess
- When she got home and switched on the TV, however, she found Al's audible substance diminished by his visible smarminess.
- But is anyone else finding the self-congratulatory smarminess of their fellow Australians as repulsive as I am?
- But setting his smarminess aside, the accuracy of his riff on Berger is actually apropos of the rest of his remarks.
Synonyms
unctuousness, smoothness, slickness, oiliness, greasiness, fulsomeness, obsequiousness
informal sliminess
rare unctuosity