hypocrisy

English

Etymology

From Middle English ipocrisie, from Old French ypocrisie, from Late Latin hypocrisis, from Ancient Greek ὑπόκρισις (hupókrisis, “answer, stage acting, pretense”), from ὑποκρίνομαι (hupokrínomai, “I answer (a fellow actor on stage), play a part, dissemble, feign”), from ὑπό (hupó, “under, equivalent of the modern "hypo-" prefix”) + the middle voice of κρίνω (krínō, “I separate, judge, decide”).

Displaced native Old English līċettung.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /hɪˈpɒkɹəsi/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
(US) IPA^(key): /hɪˈpɑkɹəsi/

Noun

hypocrisy (countable and uncountable, plural hypocrisies)

The contrivance of a false appearance of virtue or goodness, while concealing real character or inclinations, especially with respect to religious and moral beliefs; hence in general sense, dissimulation, pretence, sham.
political hypocrisy

He condemned the hypocrisy of politicians who broke their own laws.
The claim or pretense of having beliefs, standards, qualities, behaviours, virtues, motivations, etc. which one does not really have. [from early 13th c.]
rank hypocrisy

charge of hypocrisy
The practice of engaging in the same behaviour or activity for which one criticises another; moral self-contradiction whereby the behavior of one or more people belies their own claimed or implied possession of certain beliefs, standards or virtues.
An instance of hypocrisy.

Synonyms

hypocriticality, hypocriticalness

Related terms

Translations

claim, pretense, or false representation of holding beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not actually possess

Afrikaans: skynheiligheid
Aghwan: 𐕌𐔰𐕙𐕕𐔴𐕀𐔶 (marʒexē)
Albanian: shtirësi (sq), hipokrizi (sq)
Arabic: رِيَاء m (riyāʔ), نِفَاق m (nifāq)
Armenian: երեսպաշտություն (hy) (erespaštutʻyun)
Azerbaijani: ikiüzlülük, riyakarlıq, riya
Belarusian: крываду́шнасць f (kryvadúšnascʹ)
Bulgarian: лицемерие (bg) n (licemerie), двуличие (bg) n (dvuličie)
Catalan: hipocresia (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 虛偽 / 虚伪 (zh) (xūwěi), 假惺惺 (zh) (jiǎxīngxīng), (morally) 偽善 / 伪善 (zh) (wěishàn)
Cornish: fayntys m
Czech: pokrytectví (cs) n, přetvářka (cs) f, licoměrnost (cs) f
Danish: hykleri (da) n
Dutch: hypocrisie (nl) f, huichelarij (nl) f, schijnheiligheid (nl) f
Esperanto: hipokriteco (in the abstract); hipokritaĵo, hipokrito (a particular instance)
Estonian: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: tekopyhyys (fi), ulkokultaisuus (fi)
French: hypocrisie (fr) f, faux-culterie (fr) f (pejorative, familiar), tartuferie (fr) f, tartufferie (fr) f
Galician: hipocrisía f
Georgian: პირმოთნეობა (ṗirmotneoba), თვალთმაქცობა (tvaltmakcoba), ორპირობა (orṗiroba), ფარისევლობა (parisevloba)
German: Heuchelei (de) f, Scheinheiligkeit (de) f, Hypokrisie (de) f (exalted), Tartüfferie f (exalted, dated)
Greek: υποκρισία (el) f (ypokrisía)
Hebrew: צביעות \ צְבִיעוּת (he) f (tsviút)
Hindi: ढोंग (ḍhoṅg), पाखंड (hi) f (pākhaṇḍ)
Hungarian: álszentség, képmutatás (hu)
Icelandic: hræsni (is) f, yfirdrepsskapur m, uppgerð f
Indonesian: kemunafikan (id)
Irish: fimínteacht f, bréagchrábhadh m
Italian: ipocrisia (it) f
Japanese: 偽善 (ja) (ぎぜん, gizen)
Kazakh: екіжүзділік (ekıjüzdılık)
Korean: 위선(僞善) (ko) (wiseon)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: دووڕوویی (dûrrûyî)

Northern Kurdish: durûtî (ku) f
Kyrgyz: эки жүздүүлүк (ky) (eki jüzdüülük)
Latvian: please add this translation if you can
Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
Macedonian: лицемерие (mk) n (licemerie)
Manx: craueeaght-oalsey m
Norwegian:
Bokmål: hykleri n, hykling m or f, skinnhellighet m or f

Nynorsk: hykleri n, hykling f, hyklarskap m or n
Occitan: ipocrisia (oc) f
Old East Slavic: лицемѣриѥ (liceměrije)
Old English: līċettung f
Persian: دورویی (doruyi)
Polish: hipokryzja (pl) f
Portuguese: hipocrisia (pt) f
Romanian: ipocrizie (ro) f
Russian: лицеме́рие (ru) n (licemérije), двули́чие (ru) n (dvulíčije)
Scottish Gaelic: fuar-chràbhadh m, breug-chràbhadh m, hiopocrasaidh m
Serbo-Croatian: licemerje (sh), licemjerje (sh) n, licemerstvo, licemjerstvo n, dvoličnost (sh) f, dvoličje (sh) n, himba (sh) f, hipokrizija (sh) f
Slovak: pokrytectvo n, pretvárka f
Slovene: dvoličnost f, licemerstvo n, licemerje n
Spanish: hipocresía (es) f
Swedish: hyckleri (sv) n
Tagalog: patumapat, katalipandasan
Tajik: риёкорона (riyokorona)
Turkish: ikiyüzlülük (tr)
Ukrainian: лицемі́рство n (lycemírstvo), дволи́чність f (dvolýčnistʹ)
Uzbek: ikkiyuzlamachilik (uz)
Vietnamese: đạo đức giả, giả hình (vi)
Welsh: rhagrith (cy) m

applying criticism to others that one does not apply equally to oneself

Galician: dobre moral f
German: Doppelmoral (de) f
Hungarian: képmutatás (hu)
Russian: ха́нжество (ru) n (xánžestvo)
Swedish: dubbelmoral (sv) c