hypocrite
Americannoun
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hypocrites
plural
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a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that they do not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.
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a person who feigns some desirable or publicly approved attitude, especially one whose private life, opinions, or statements belie their public statements.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of hypocrite
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English ipocrite from Old French, from Late Latin hypocrita, from Greek hypokritḗs “a stage actor,” hence “one who pretends to be what he is not,” equivalent to hypokrī(nesthai) ( see hypocrisy) + -tēs agent suffix
Explanation
A hypocrite preaches one thing, and does another. You're a hypocrite if you criticize other people for wearing fur, but pull out your big mink jacket as soon as it gets cold. The word hypocrite is rooted in the Greek word hypokrites, which means “stage actor, pretender, dissembler.” So think of a hypocrite as a person who pretends to be a certain way, but really acts and believes the total opposite. Hypocrites usually talk a big talk but fail to follow their own rules — like an outspoken vegetarian who secretly eats bacon.
Vocabulary lists containing hypocrite
The Hate U Give
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The Autobiography of Malcolm X
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"Thanksgiving: A Personal History"
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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.
See Examples For:
"My mother was a Democrat and my daddy was a Republican, so I’m a hypocrite," she quipped.
From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026
"Sometimes I feel a bit of a hypocrite because I used to move clubs for extra money," he says.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
That set off a firestorm of comments about whether or not Grantham was a hypocrite.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 29, 2026
In a July 4, 2013, email to Nikolic, Epstein wrote: “Bill risks going from richest man to biggest hypocrite, melinda a laughing stock, pledges will disappear as a result.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 25, 2026
“Yes, mortal,” I say, like the hypocrite I am.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
And studies show that the people we most like to label as hypocrites are our enemies—surprise!—and others who we think aren’t like us.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2025
I worry that it is turning us into hypocrites who, when it comes to the privacy of our conversations, have higher expectations for how others should treat us than for how we treat others.
From Slate ● Aug. 16, 2023
Rosenblum snaps back to the beginning of the summer, where she lays out her rogues’ gallery of gossips, hypocrites, cheaters.
From New York Times ● Jun. 16, 2023
In both cases, it's not just that the people involved are massive hypocrites.
From Salon ● Mar. 3, 2023
Situations like these, I realized, were what turned people into hypocrites.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
