odor of sanctity

Idioms  

1. Exaggerated or hypocritical piety, an assumption of moral superiority, as in This candidate puts off some voters with his odor of sanctity. This expression, originating in the medieval idea that the dead body of a saintly individual gives off a sweet smell, was used to describe saintliness in the mid-1700s. Today it is generally used ironically.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

odor of sanctity

Then will waft about the world, to the Pope willingly immured in Rome, a mighty odor of sanctity.

From Time Magazine Archive

Then she realizes as she pictures a death in the odor of sanctity that she really does love Jimmy after all.

From Time Magazine Archive

The odor of sanctity had settled strongly upon that lay temple by the time Atlanta's legal luminary, Lawyer Thomas E. Scott, cleared his throat and solemnly introduced the first speaker on the program.

From Time Magazine Archive

As . . . an erratic old gentleman who wishes to die in the odor of sanctity, permit me to hit the sawdust trail.

From Time Magazine Archive

The priest came along with easy step and shining, rosy face, rejoicing at once in the odor of sanctity and of a good dinner.

From Great Men and Famous Women, Vol. 7 A Series of Pen and Pencil Sketches of the Lives of More Than 200 of the Most Prominent Personages in History by Horne, Charles F. (Charles Francis)