Pecksniffian
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of Pecksniffian
1850–55; named after Seth Pecksniff, character in Martin Chuzzlewit, a novel (1843) by Dickens; see -ian
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
Before consigning the German Chancellor's Pecksniffian oration to well-deserved oblivion, there is one other fact to state, because it is of immediate interest to Great Britain.
From What Germany Thinks The War as Germans see it by Thomas F. A. Smith
But Baedeker was dreadfully Pecksniffian about these poor innocent etudiantes, many of whom love their lovers much more truly than many a British wife loves her husband, and are much better loved in return.
From Quest of the Golden Girl, a Romance by Richard Le Gallienne
This is merely Pecksniffian; indigestion is his trouble.
From With Our Army in Palestine by Antony Bluett
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
