🧈 Tastes like butter 😏 Too smooth 🏺 A food storeroom ☕ A student cafe

buttery

1 7.9

Talking in a smooth, not sincere way to seem friendly

adjective
/ˈbʌtəri/

: meloso

Mommy said I was a buttery muffin.
a buttery voice
a buttery tone

Life is not flowery, not buttery, I tell you has so many challenges.

Examples

You were just a little buttery muffin.

Firestarter (2022)
And Joe's going on about how fat his little buttery squab of a wife has become and why the heck doesn't she get a NordicTrack or something to take the edge off this meat mountain.

Fiction book (1998)
Life is not flowery, not buttery, I tell you has so many challenges.

Evan Carmichael
"Nino's voice was buttery, but his eyes glittered."

Fiction book (1995)
VOA, staffed by Americans, was a buttery voice of reason.

Fiction book (1992)
And I guess also that's really bad news for AMD because that's kind of their buttery zone right now where they're like, we have many cores.
Grace Slick's all-too-wise buttery voice floated from the speakers mounted on the outside wall of Morrison's house, wrapped itself around the two men like the arms of a lover.

Fiction book (1997)
Most of the people reading this blog probably don't give R. Kelly—the R&B singer known for his buttery voice and slippery morals—the attention that I do, which is completely understandable.

Blog text (1)
His insistence was quite buttery, making it hard to trust his true intentions.
Despite his buttery compliments, she remained skeptical of his sincerity.

Synonyms

smarmy

vsbuttery

Informal

12 8.1

Too polite and friendly in a way that does not seem real

is similar but stresses a suave, ingratiating attitude rather than politeness

oily

vsbuttery

7 6.7

Too smooth and pleasant in a way that seems false

is the same ingratiating style but framed as unpleasant suavity

saccharine

vsbuttery

5 7.9

Being too sweet or emotional in a way that seems false

is more about suave flattery than sentimental sweetness

unctuous

vsbuttery

3 9.7

A person who gives too many fake compliments to try to please people

is similar but highlights smoothness and suavity over explicit praise

fulsome

vsbuttery

Formal

3 9.3

Too much praise that sounds false and makes people uncomfortable

is similar but is more about smooth, ingratiating manner than lavishness

syrupy

vsbuttery

3 3.7

Too sweet in taste or feeling, often sounding not sincere

is less about sweetness and more about smooth, flattering manner

kissy

vsbuttery

Informal

1 8.0

Acting overly loving but not sincere

is broader ingratiation in manner and speech, not just affection

soapy

vsbuttery

1 7.1

Trying to please others with smooth words that are not sincere

is similar but framed as excessive flattering rather than just smoothness

oleaginous

vsbuttery

Offensive

1 9.9

Too smooth and friendly in a fake, unpleasant way

is similar but focuses on flattering tone rather than eagerness

toadyish

vsbuttery

9.9

Being too friendly and praising someone important to get favor

is more general ingratiation, not limited to pleasing authority figures

How Insincere

unctuous

3 9.7

smarmy

Informal

12 8.1

buttery

1 7.9

smooth

116 4.4

Surface Forms

buttery positive

Morphology

buttery = butter (semi-transparent) = butter + y

The form is the same as the literal adjective, but the 'suave' and 'ingratiating' meaning is a figurative extension rather than a fully predictable compositional sense.

Etymology

Buttery can also mean a smooth, overly pleasant manner, and this meaning comes from the same idea of butter being soft and slippery. So a 'buttery' voice or smile feels smooth but can seem false or too flattering.