sanctimonious
Americanadjective
-
making a hypocritical show of religious devotion, piety, righteousness, etc..
They resented his sanctimonious comments on immorality in America.
-
Obsolete. holy; sacred.
adjective
Other Word Forms
- nonsanctimonious adjective
- nonsanctimoniously adverb
- nonsanctimoniousness noun
- sanctimoniously adverb
- sanctimoniousness noun
- sanctimony noun
- unsanctimonious adjective
- unsanctimoniously adverb
- unsanctimoniousness noun
Etymology
Origin of sanctimonious
First recorded in 1595–1605; sanctimony + -ous
Explanation
The sanctimonious person sounds like a hypocrite when he preaches to a friend about the evils of drugs, while he drinks one beer after another. Sanctimonious is a twist on the words sanctity and sacred, which mean holy or religious. A sanctimonious person might think he's holy, but their attitude comes across more like "holier-than-thou." Though sanctimonious people might try to act like saints, their actions are far from pure or holy, which just makes them sound like hypocrites.
Vocabulary lists containing sanctimonious
"Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)
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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.
Dahlia Lithwick: In your article, you draw out the fact that lawyers are extremely uneasy about invoking the language of morality, because morality is either too malleable or just sanctimonious and annoying.
From Slate • Feb. 3, 2026
And their sanctimonious approach to history becomes very tiresome very quickly.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 13, 2025
I dig that kind of culpability: a film that doesn’t point sanctimonious fingers but insists we’re all to blame.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 17, 2025
"It would be so sanctimonious without any humour in it."
From BBC • Feb. 4, 2025
The Morning Herald, sanctimonious as ever, editorialized: There is a proper course in protesting substandard housing, and Operation Breakthrough would have been well advised to have counseled the Edgemont Community Council to follow it.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
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.
