sanctimonious

English

WOTD – 4 February 2010

Etymology

sanctimony +‎ -ous

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌsæŋk.tɪˈməʊ.ni.əs/, /ˌsæŋk.təˈməʊ.ni.əs/
• IPA^(key): /ˌsæŋk.tɪˈmoʊ.ni.əs/, /ˌsæŋk.təˈmoʊ.ni.əs/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Adjective

sanctimonious (comparative more sanctimonious, superlative most sanctimonious)

1. Making a show of being morally better than others, especially hypocritically pious.
   • 1623, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act I, scene ii:

     Thou conclud'st like the sanctimonious pirate, that went to sea with the Ten Commandements, but scrap'd one out of the table.

   • 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “Prologue”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 6:

     [O]ne / Discuss'd his tutor, rough to common men / But honeying at the whisper of a lord; / And one the Master, as a rogue in grain / Veneer'd with sanctimonious theory.

   • 2007, Alan Farrell, High Cheekbones, Pouty Lips, Tight Jeans, Lulu.com (→ISBN), page 77:

     It'd be easy to write off Michael Moore as a fat, scruffy, sanctimonious Bolchevik poseur (actually, I do write off Michael Moore as a fat, scruffy, sanctimonious Bolchevik poseur) but the fact is that there's about five minutes of cleverness in this […]

   • 2013, Ronald F. Marshall, Kierkegaard for the Church: Essays and Sermons, Wipf and Stock Publishers (→ISBN), page 333:

     And this is indeed needed, since we who consider these awkward Christian ideas are but fearful, sanctimonious people, as Kierkegaard once put it so passionately: O, you sanctimonious people with your love which does not set you apart […]

2. (archaic) Holy, devout.

Derived terms

• sanctimoniously
• sanctimoniousness
• sanctimony

Translations

making a show of being morally better than others, especially hypocritically

• Danish: skinhellig, hyklerisk (hypocritical), farisæisk (pharisaic. Archaic)
• Dutch: schijnheilig (nl),hooghartig (nl)
• Esperanto: bigota (eo), farisea, hipokrita
• Finnish: tekopyhä (fi), pyhimysmäinen, hurskasteleva (fi), (colloquial) jeesusteleva
• French: hypocrite (fr), faux dévot, tartuffe (fr), bigot (fr), confit en dévotion
• Galician: moino m, doido m, mansoño m
• German: frömmelnd (de), scheinheilig (de)
• Greek: ψευδευλαβής m (psevdevlavís), αγιοφανής (agiofanís)
• Hebrew: מתחסד, צדקני
• Hindi: पाखण्ड (hi) (pākhaṇḍ)
• Hungarian: szenteskedő, álszent (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: diagasúil, bréagchráifeach, béalchráifeach
• Italian: tartufo (it), santimonia (it), pretesco m, tartufesco m, baciapile (it), bacchettone (it) m
• Norwegian Bokmål: skinnhellig
• Norwegian Nynorsk: skinheilag
• Polish: świętoszkowaty, świętojebliwy (pl) (vulgar)
• Portuguese: santimonial
• Russian: ханжеский (ru) (xanžeskij)
• Scottish Gaelic: beul-chràbhach, breug-chràbhach
• Spanish: santurrón m, (colloquial) santón m, gazmoño m, mojigato (es) m, (Bol.) pechoño m, meapilas, tartufo (es) m, chupacirios, santulón m (Argentina)
• Swedish: skenhelig (sv)

holy, devout

• Italian: bigotto (it), baciapile (it), devoto (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Spanish: santón m