Tartuffe
Americannoun
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(italics) a comedy (1664–69) by Molière.
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(often lowercase) Also Tartufe a hypocritical pretender to piety.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of Tartuffe
from the character in the Molière's comedy Tartuffe (1664)
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.
Ncuti Gatwa performs as Valere in Tartuffe in 2012.
From BBC • Jan. 2, 2026
But it strikes a false and pandering note, since Tartuffe, as in Molière, has been plainly exposed as an opportunistic, lascivious fraud—and the only one in the play.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 17, 2025
For all his holy protestations, Tartuffe is clearly a crook.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 19, 2024
Tartuffe is the embodiment of the master con artist — a pretentious person who fakes religious devoutness, convincing a benefactor that he is a moral person.
From Salon • Mar. 6, 2024
Then he had her memorize a page from Molière’s Le Tartuffe and its English translation.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
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.
