Adjacent Words

Sanctimonious definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SANCTIMO'NIOUS, a. [L. sanctimonia, from sanctus, holy.]
Saintly; having the appearance of sanctity; as a sanctimonious pretense.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: excessively or hypocritically pious; "a sickening sanctimonious smile" [syn: holier-than-thou, pietistic, pietistical, pharisaic, pharisaical, sanctimonious, self-righteous]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Date: 1603 1. hypocritically pious or devout <a sanctimonious moralist> <the king's sanctimonious rebuke — G. B. Shaw> 2. obsolete possessing sanctity ; holy • sanctimoniously adverb • sanctimoniousness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. making a show of sanctity or piety. Derivatives: sanctimoniously adv. sanctimoniousness n. sanctimony n. Etymology: L sanctimonia sanctity (as SAINT)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Sanctimonious Sanc`ti*mo"ni*ous, a. [See Sanctimony.] 1. Possessing sanctimony; holy; sacred; saintly. --Shak. 2. Making a show of sanctity; affecting saintliness; hypocritically devout or pious. ``Like the sanctimonious pirate.'' --Shak. -- Sanc`ti*mo"ni*ous*ly, adv. -- Sanc`ti*mo"ni*ous*ness, n.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If you say that someone is sanctimonious, you disapprove of them because you think that they are trying to appear morally better than other people. He writes smug, sanctimonious rubbish... = self-righteous ADJ [disapproval]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. Pharisaical, affectedly holy, hypocritically devout.

Moby Thesaurus

Pecksniffian, Quakerish, Tartuffian, Tartuffish, Victorian, affected, canting, censorious, deceiving, demure, false, fanatical, goody, goody-goody, hidebound, holier-than-thou, hypocritic, hypocritical, insincere, mealy-mouthed, mealymouthed, mid-Victorian, narrow, oily, old-maidish, overdevout, overmodest, overreligious, overrighteous, overzealous, pecksniffian, pharisaic, pharisaical, pharisean, pietistic, pious, priggish, prim, prudish, puritanical, sanctified, self-righteous, simon-pure, smug, sniveling, snuffling, stiff-necked, straitlaced, stuffy, ultrareligious, unctuous, zealotic, zealous