sanctimonious
[sangk-tuh-moh-nee-uh s]
- making a hypocritical show of religious devotion, piety, righteousness, etc.: They resented his sanctimonious comments on immorality in America.
- Obsolete. holy; sacred.
Show More
Origin of sanctimonious
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
self-satisfied, hypocritical, pious, insincere, smug, stuffy, bigoted, canting, goody-goody, holier-than-thou, preachy, unctuous, Pecksniffian, pharisaical, pietistic, falseExamples from the Web for sanctimonious
Contemporary Examples
The sanctimonious, the puritans of all stripes, and the killjoys in general raise the issue annually.
It is a sanctimonious doctor show combined with a sanctimonious mob drama—and misses the core of the profession.
One purported fan blogged a review calling the interlude “an interminable and sanctimonious speech.”
Other terms for Santorum: “religious,” “sanctimonious,” and “God-talker.”
The pious, sanctimonious Oscar ceremony is how Hollywood wants to see itself.
The Gaudy, Gauche and Sometimes Corrupt Greatness of the Golden GlobesRichard Rushfield
January 16, 2012
Historical Examples
"If ever there was a sanctimonious hypocrite it's that Mrs. Cripps," she declared.
Kent Knowles: QuahaugJoseph C. Lincoln
If ever I ran afoul of a sanctimonious pair of hypocrites they're the pair.
Kent Knowles: QuahaugJoseph C. Lincoln
Who do you think you're kidding, Bev, you sanctimonious hypocrite—me?
Masters of SpaceEdward Elmer Smith
He saw that a year at Dunwood House had produced a sanctimonious prig.
The Longest JourneyE. M. Forster
I don't know why you should have taken it into your head all of a sudden to be so sanctimonious.
The Youngest Girl in the FifthAngela Brazil
sanctimonious
- affecting piety or making a display of holiness
Show More
Word Origin
C17: from Latin sanctimonia sanctity, from sanctus holy
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for sanctimonious
adj.
c.1600 (in "Measure for Measure," with the disparaging sense "making a show of sanctity, affecting an appearance of holiness"), from sanctimony + -ous. The un-ironic, literal sense was used occasionally in English from c.1600 to c.1800. Related: Sanctimoniously; sanctimoniousness.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper