Adjacent Words

Hypocrite definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

HYP'OCRITE, n.
1. One who feigns to be what he is not; one who has the form of godliness without the power, or who assumes an appearance of piety and virtue, when he is destitute of true religion.
And the hypocrite's hope shall perish. Job 8.
2. A dissembler; one who assumes a false appearance.
Fair hypocrite, you seek to cheat in vain.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a person who professes beliefs and opinions that he or she does not hold in order to conceal his or her real feelings or motives [syn: hypocrite, dissembler, dissimulator, phony, phoney, pretender]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English ypocrite, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin hypocrita, from Greek hypokrit?s actor, hypocrite, from hypokrinesthai Date: 13th century 1. a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion 2. a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings • hypocrite adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. a person given to hypocrisy. Derivatives: hypocritical adj. hypocritically adv. Etymology: ME f. OF ypocrite f. eccl.L f. Gk hupokrites actor (as HYPOCRISY)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Hypocrite Hyp"o*crite, n. [F., fr. L. hypocrita, Gr. ? one who plays a part on the stage, a dissembler, feigner. See Hypocrisy.] One who plays a part; especially, one who, for the purpose of winning approbation of favor, puts on a fair outside seeming; one who feigns to be other and better than he is; a false pretender to virtue or piety; one who simulates virtue or piety. The hypocrite's hope shall perish. --Job viii. 13. I dare swear he is no hypocrite, but prays from his heart. --Shak. Syn: Deceiver; pretender; cheat. See Dissembler.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(hypocrites) If you accuse someone of being a hypocrite, you mean that they pretend to have qualities, beliefs, or feelings that they do not really have. N-COUNT [disapproval]

Easton's Bible Dictionary

one who puts on a mask and feigns himself to be what he is not; a dissembler in religion. Our Lord severely rebuked the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy (Matt. 6:2, 5, 16). "The hypocrite's hope shall perish" (Job 8:13). The Hebrew word here rendered "hypocrite" rather means the "godless" or "profane," as it is rendered in Jer. 23:11, i.e., polluted with crimes.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Pharisee, formalist, canter. 2. Dissembler, deceiver, impostor, pretender, cheat.

Foolish Dictionary

A horse dealer. From Grk. hippos, horse, and kroteo, to beat. One who beats you on a horse trade. ICE A substance frequently associated with a tumble in winter, a tumbler in summer, and a skate the year around.

Moby Thesaurus

Holy Willie, Joseph Surface, Mawworm, Pecksniff, Pharisee, Tartuffe, actor, affecter, ape, attitudinizer, bluffer, canter, canting hypocrite, charlatan, con man, confidence man, conformist, copier, copycat, copyist, counterfeiter, cuckoo, deceiver, dissembler, dissimulator, double-dealer, echo, echoer, echoist, fair-weather friend, faker, false friend, flimflam man, flimflammer, forger, formalist, fraud, humbug, imitator, impersonator, imposter, impostor, liar, lip server, lip worshiper, masquerader, mealymouth, mime, mimer, mimic, mimicker, mocker, mockingbird, monkey, mountebank, parrot, pharisee, phony, pietist, pious fraud, plagiarist, poll-parrot, polly, polly-parrot, poser, poseur, pretender, quack, ranter, religionist, religious hypocrite, sanctimonious fraud, sham, sheep, simulator, sniveler, snuffler, spiritual humbug, summer soldier, whited sepulcher