unction

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

They are the unction by which mere deeds become noble.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 9, 2026

Over the years, he proposed his own nouns of multitude, including an unction of undertakers, a shrivel of critics and a queue of actors.

From Washington Post • Mar. 2, 2020

The role not only artfully transmuted Morgan’s persona but also used the unique unction of his performance to comment on the entanglement of race and comedy.

From The New Yorker • May 6, 2019

On Wednesday, she came to the church to be anointed with oil in the sacrament of holy unction and to pick up a cotton ball for her ailing father and her daughter.

From Los Angeles Times • May 1, 2016

They were still looking at him with consternation and unbelief when the minister rose and introduced him in rich, rolling tones whose very unction served to increase the visitor's insignificance.

From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner