pecksniff

[pek-snif]

noun

1. a person of Pecksniffian attitudes or behavior.

   a virtuousness that only a pecksniff could aspire to.

Word History and Origins

Origin of pecksniff¹

First recorded in 1910–15; Pecksniffian

Example Sentences

In 1994, he appeared as Pecksniff in the BBC's adaptation of Charles Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit.

Read more on BBC

When he portrayed Pecksniff in Martin Chuzzlewit for the BBC in 1994, Wilkinson said: "I looked at it and I thought, I can't get it any better than that. It came out exactly as I meant it to come out. It won a couple of prizes and I thought, I can act, there's no question."

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In Chuzzlewit, a study in hypocrisy releases the comic energies of language when we see Mr Pecksniff affecting moral loftiness, “towering on tiptoe among the curtains, as if he were literally rising above all worldly considerations, and were fain to hold on tight, to keep himself from darting skyward like a rocket”.

Read more on The Guardian

Once we would have said, Mr. Pecksniff quitted the firm, betted on the horses, and wetted his whistle, then wedded his sweetheart in a suit that fitted him perfectly.

Read more on Literature

Mr. Pecksniff quit the firm, bet on the horses, and wet his whistle, then wed his sweetheart in a suit that fit him perfectly.

Read more on Literature