hypocritical

[hip-uh-krit-i-kuhl]

adjective

1. of the nature of hypocrisy, or pretense of having virtues, beliefs, principles, etc., that one does not actually possess.

   The parent who has a “do what I say and not what I do” attitude can appear hypocritical to a child.

2. possessing the characteristics of hypocrisy.

   Isn't a politician hypocritical for talking about human dignity while voting against reasonable social programs?

Other Word Forms

• hypocritically adverb
• unhypocritical adjective
• unhypocritically adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of hypocritical¹

First recorded in 1515–25; equivalent to Greek hypokritik(ós) (from hypokritḗs “a stage actor” + -ikós -ic ( def. ) ) + -al ¹ ( def. ); hypocrite ( def. )

Example Sentences

“A Queen Mother who betrays the Council and goes against the abosom! How horrendously hypocritical.”

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It sounds extremely hypocritical because I write a Substack devoted to online shopping, but I find scrolling for hours on end a soulless experience.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The piece argues that Republicans are being hypocritical given their attacks on “cancel culture” and “wokeism”—they cannot simultaneously claim that deplatforming is oppressive while refusing to condemn actual Nazis.

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“It’s hypocritical of Democratic leaders who refuse to endorse him. It definitely will affect my vote,” she said.

Read more on Salon

“It is hypocritical to say that it is abhorrent to tactically shift voters based on race, but not to do so based on party affiliation,” he said.

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Related Words

• deceptive 
• duplicitous 
• false 
• insincere 
• sanctimonious 
• self-righteous 
• unnatural