Pecksniffian

American  

[pek-snif-ee-uhn] / pɛkˈsnɪf i ən /

Sometimes Pecksniffish

adjective

(often lowercase)

1. hypocritically and unctuously affecting benevolence or high moral principles.

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Pecksniffian British  

/ pɛkˈsnɪfɪən /

adjective

1. affecting benevolence or high moral principles

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Other Word Forms

• Pecksniffery noun
• Pecksniffianism noun
• Pecksniffism noun

Etymology

Origin of Pecksniffian

1850–55; named after Seth Pecksniff, character in Martin Chuzzlewit, a novel (1843) by Dickens; see -ian

Example Sentences

With another season underway, suspend your Pecksniffian disapproval of the college football industry’s recent upheavals.

From Washington Post • Sep. 28, 2022

Insults that are banned include "hypocrite", "blackguard" and "Pecksniffian cant", although only Jacob Rees-Mogg would use that last one these days.

From The Guardian • May 26, 2012

He wore no phylacteries, and was as far away as possible from Pecksniffian pretensions.

From The Life of Phineas T. Barnum by Benton, Joel

What a Pecksniffian business it is to go into!

From Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 22, August, 1878 by Various

And even when I come to feel a final incompatibility of temper, Pecksniff was not so Pecksniffian as he has since become.

From Utopia of Usurers and Other Essays by Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith)