sanctimonious

  • 1Sanctimonious — Sanc ti*mo ni*ous, a. [See {Sanctimony}.] 1. Possessing sanctimony; holy; sacred; saintly. Shak. [1913 Webster] 2. Making a show of sanctity; affecting saintliness; hypocritically devout or pious. Like the sanctimonious pirate. Shak. [1913… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 2sanctimonious — 1 pietistic, religious, *devout, pious Analogous words: see those at SANCTIMONIOUS 2 2 hypocritical, Pharisaical, canting (see under HYPOCRISY) Analogous words: affected, feigned, simulated, counterfeited, assumed, pretended (see ASSUME):… …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • 3sanctimonious — index tartuffish Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …

    Law dictionary

  • 4sanctimonious — c.1600 (in Measure for Measure, with the disparaging sense), from sanctimony holiness of life and character (1530s), from M.Fr. sanctimonie, from L. sanctimonia holiness, virtuousness, from sanctus holy (see SAINT (Cf. saint)). The un ironic,… …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 5sanctimonious — [adj] self righteous bigoted, canting, deceiving, false, goody goody*, holier than thou*, hypocritical, insincere, pharisaical, pietistic, pious, preachy, selfsatisfied, smug, stuffy, unctuous; concepts 401,404 Ant. humble, meek, modest …

    New thesaurus

  • 6sanctimonious — ► ADJECTIVE derogatory ▪ making a show of being morally superior. DERIVATIVES sanctimoniously adverb sanctimoniousness noun sanctimony noun. ORIGIN from Latin sanctimonia sanctity …

    English terms dictionary

  • 7sanctimonious — [saŋk΄tə mō′nē əs] adj. [< SANCTIMONY + OUS] pretending to be very holy or pious; affecting sanctity or righteousness SYN. DEVOUT sanctimoniously adv. sanctimoniousness n …

    English World dictionary

  • 8sanctimonious — [[t]sæ̱ŋktɪmo͟ʊniəs[/t]] ADJ GRADED (disapproval) If you say that someone is sanctimonious, you disapprove of them because you think that they are trying to appear morally better than other people. He writes smug, sanctimonious rubbish... You… …

    English dictionary

  • 9sanctimonious — adjective Date: 1603 1. hypocritically pious or devout < a sanctimonious moralist > < the king s sanctimonious rebuke G. B. Shaw > 2. obsolete possessing sanctity ; holy • sanctimoniously adverb • sanctimoniousness …

    New Collegiate Dictionary

  • 10sanctimonious — sanctimoniously, adv. sanctimoniousness, n. /sangk teuh moh nee euhs/, adj. 1. making a hypocritical show of religious devotion, piety, righteousness, etc.: They resented his sanctimonious comments on immorality in America. 2. Obs. holy; sacred.&#8230; …

    Universalium