Pecksniffian

American  

[pek-snif-ee-uhn] / pɛkˈsnɪf i ən /

Sometimes Pecksniffish

adjective

(often lowercase)

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

---

Pecksniffian British  

/ pɛkˈsnɪfɪən /

adjective

1. affecting benevolence or high moral principles

---

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

See Examples For:

Pecksniffian

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

But there is something quite pestilently Pecksniffian about shrinking from a hard task on the plea that it is not hard enough.

From What's Wrong with the World by Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith)

For a minute or two, in fact, he was hot, and pale, and mean, and shy, and slinking, and consequently not at all Pecksniffian.

From Martin Chuzzlewit by Dickens, Charles

Thus was the defendant suddenly revealed as a Pecksniffian Lothario, and his pretence of philanthrophy after was shewn in its true colours. 

From Bardell v. Pickwick by Fitzgerald, Percy Hethrington