holier-than-thou
Syllables: ho·li·er-than-thou/ˈhəʊ.li.ə ðən ˈðaʊ//ˈhoʊ.li.ɚ ðən ˈðaʊ/
holier-than-thou adjective: hypocritically or self-righteously pious; sanctimonious; smugly morally superior.
Adjective
holier-than-thou (comparative more holier-than-thou, superlative most holier-than-thou)
- Hypocritically or self-righteously pious; sanctimonious; smugly morally superior.
- [T]here are local jealousies and disunities which are not likely to be soothed by the patent fact that companies which most strenuously assert the I-am-holier-than-thou claim daily violate the rules by which they profess to be invariably governed, [...][1874 May 21, “The Work of the National Board”, in The Baltimore Underwriter: A Weekly Journal Devoted to the Interests of Insurance in All Its Branches, volume XI, number 21, Baltimore, Md....
- Hippolytus is quite insufferable in his endless protestations of pity and purity. One tires of such abnormal goodness and wishes for a little natural depravity. He is a perfect type of the "holier than thou" individual whose secret heart is a very stagnation of egotism, selfishness and disregard...1887 November 18, “The Hippolytus of Eur[i]pides”, in The Dartmouth (4th series), volume 9, number 5, Hanover, N.H.: The editors [from Dartmouth College], published 1888, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 107...
- Synonyms:
- airy, arrogant, chesty, authoritarian, biggity, big-headed, blustery, turgescent, boastful, lordly
holier-than-thou meaning in Malayalam
holier-than-thou in Malayalam
- self-righteous, sanctimonious, smug
- പുണ്യാളത്തനാട്യമുള്ള, വിശുദ്ധഭാവമുള്ള, മേന്മ നടിക്കുന്ന, ഗുണവതി എന്നു ഭാവിക്കുന്ന, കൊണവതിയാരം കാണിക്കുന്ന, മേന്മനടിക്കുന്ന
Examples of holier-than-thou in a sentence
- I think the voters are going to see through this holier-than-thou disguise that our Republican friends are putting on.1952 March 29, Harry S. Truman, “Address at the Jefferson–Jackson Day Dinner”, in Harry S. Truman, 1952–53: […] (Public Papers of the...
- But I can understand the hon. member's sense of sanctimony; he has now been a member of the NDP caucus for a while and the holier-than-thou attitude has been bred into him.1980 December 1, Ray Hnatyshyn, “Judges Act: Measure to Increase Salaries of Judges”, in House of Commons Debates, Official Report, First...
- The Soviet economy is hurting now, and I say that not holier-than-thou, but it is; factually, the Soviet economy is in bad shape.1991 July 8, George [Herbert Walker] Bush, “Interview with Foreign Journalists”, in George Bush, 1991 (in Two Books) (Public Papers of the...
- This tends to create a "holier-than-thou" attitude, where if something even hints of being politically incorrect, then no matter how much fun it might be for the children, it will not take place.2014 September 30, David Smith, “David’s Guide for What to Look For in a Centre”, in Suffer the Little Children: An Insider’s View of the...
Synonyms of holier-than-thou
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- bombastic
- cocky
- conceited
- disdainful
- domineering
- egotistical
- entitled
- flaunting
- full of oneself
- grandiose
- hankty
- haughty
- high-handed
- high-hat
- high and mighty
- highfalutin
- hoity-toity
- hubristic
- hubristical
- imperious
- inflated
- insolent
- la-di-da
- ostentatious
- overbearing
- overweening
- pompous
- presumptuous
- pretentious
- priggish
Forms of holier-than-thou
| comparative | more holier-than-thou |
|---|---|
| superlative | most holier-than-thou |
Origin of holier-than-thou
From Isaiah 65:5 in the Bible (King James Version; spelling modernized): “Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou”; from Biblical Hebrew קְדַשְׁתִּיךָ (qəḏaštîḵā).
Words that rhyme with holier-than-thou
Questions about holier-than-thou
- What does holier-than-thou mean?
- Holier-than-thou means hypocritically or self-righteously pious; sanctimonious; smugly morally superior.
- What is holier-than-thou in Malayalam?
- Holier-than-thou in Malayalam is പുണ്യാളത്തനാട്യമുള്ള, വിശുദ്ധഭാവമുള്ള, മേന്മ നടിക്കുന്ന. See Holier-than-thou meaning in Malayalam.
- How do you use holier-than-thou in a sentence?
- I think the voters are going to see through this holier-than-thou disguise that our Republican friends are putting on.
- What part of speech is holier-than-thou?
- Holier-than-thou is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce holier-than-thou?
- Holier-than-thou is pronounced /ˈhəʊ.li.ə ðən ˈðaʊ/ (UK).
Words near holier-than-thou in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: holier-than-thou (page history and authors); holier-than-thou (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-holier-than-thou.wav, En-us-holier-than-thou.mp3.
Cite this entry: “holier-than-thou.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/holier-than-thou. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.