righteous
/ˈɹaɪt͡ʃəs/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
obsolete/ˈɹaɪtjəs/
righteous adjective: free from sin or guilt.
Adjective
righteous (comparative more righteous, superlative most righteous)
- Free from sin or guilt.
- The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bolde as a lyon.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 28:1
- Synonyms:
- guiltless, sinless, blameless, clean, clean-handed, clean as a hound's tooth, clean as a whistle, clear, dovelike, innocent
- Moral and virtuous, perhaps to the point of sanctimony.
- Human beings should take a righteous path, and so should art. We should promote kindness and beauty through art.
- Justified morally.
- righteous indignation
- Awesome; great.
- The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, dickheads - they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude.1986, John Hughes, Ferris Bueller's Day Off (Motion Picture), spoken by Grace Wheelberg (Edie McClurg)
- He sold me a bulging paper sack full of Cambodian Red for two dolla' MPC. A strange experience, copping from a kid, but it was righteous weed.1995, Norman L. Russell, Doug Grad, Suicide Charlie: A Vietnam War Story, page 191
- Synonyms:
- dope, lit, wicked, amazing, astounding, awe-inspiring, awesome, awful, sensational, awesomesauce
- Major; large; significant.
- He found Richard in one piece near a large circular container, thankfully, staring at a righteous mess of blood and gore.2021, G. S. Jennsen, Amaranthe V: Riven
- Synonyms:
- considerable
Verb
righteous (third-person singular simple present righteouses, present participle righteousing, simple past and past participle righteoused)
- To make righteous; specifically, to justify religiously, to absolve from sin.
- Thus for the purposes of being ‘righteoused’, the Law was irrelevant; yet Paul could not bear to see all the Law disappear.2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 101
righteous meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
righteous in Hindi
- righteous, pious, virtuous
- धर्मराज dharmarāj
- righteous, virtuous, pious, holy, dutiful, religious
- धर्मात्मा dharmātmā
- righteous
- भला bhalā
righteous in Tamil
- நன்னடைத்தையுடைய, நியாயமான, நெறிசார்ந்த, நேர்மையான
righteous in Marathi
- नीतिमान
righteous in Urdu
- عادل, پارسا, راست باز, صالح
More languagesFewer languages
- righteous in Bengali
- ধার্মিক dharmik
- righteous in Telugu
- నీతిమంతులు
- righteous in Malayalam
- ധർമ്മമുളള, നീതിമാനായ, സദാചാരപരമായ
- righteous in Kannada
- ಕಟ್ಟಲೆ ಮೀರದ, ಸರಿಯಾದ, ಒಳ್ಳೇ ನಡತೆಯ, ನೈತಿಕವಾಗಿ ಸರಿಯಾದ
- righteous in Punjabi
- ਧਰਮੀ
- righteous in Sanskrit
- धार्मिक dhā́rmika, भव्य bhávya
- righteous in Arabic
- صَالِح ṣāliḥ
- righteous in Persian
- درستکار dorostkâr
Examples of righteous in a sentence
- His extreme lawfulness made him righteous, but did it make him merciful?
- The persecution of any righteous practice has never succeeded in the face of history; in fact, it can expedite the collapse of the persecutory regime.
- Superman bashed Bavarians and kiboshed Krauts with a mix of solemn consecration, righteous anger and cathartic glee.
Synonyms of righteous
- guiltless
- sinless
- blameless
- clean
- clean-handed
- clean as a hound's tooth
- clean as a whistle
- clear
- dovelike
- innocent
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- innocent as the babe unborn
- innocent as the child unborn
- irreprehensible
- nonblameworthy
- offenseless
- pure
- unblameable
- unblameworthy
- uncalculating
- decorous
- chaste
- continent
- correct
- upstanding
- delicate
- decent
- deserving
- dutiful
- duteous
- good
- honest
- meritorious
- modest
- moral
- noble
- right
- right-minded
- straight
- uprighteous
- virtuous
Forms of righteous
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more righteous |
| superlative | most righteous |
| alternative form | rightuous |
| alternative form | rightwise |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | righteouses |
| present participle | righteousing |
| past participle | righteoused |
| past | righteoused |
Origin of righteous
From earlier rightuous, rightwose, rightwos, rightwise, from Middle English rightwise, rightwis, from Old English rihtwīs (“righteous, just”), corresponding to right + -wise (with assimilation of second element to -ous), or to right + wise (“way, manner”). Cognate with Scots richtwis (“righteous”), Old High German rehtwīsic (“righteous, just”), Icelandic réttvíss (“righteous, just”). Compare also thefteous, mighteous.
Words formed from righteous
Questions about righteous
- What does righteous mean?
- Righteous means free from sin or guilt.
- What is righteous in Hindi?
- Righteous in Hindi is धर्मराज (dharmarāj), धर्मात्मा (dharmātmā), भला (bhalā). See Righteous meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is righteous?
- Righteous can be an adjective or a verb.
- How do you pronounce righteous?
- Righteous is pronounced /ˈɹaɪt͡ʃəs/.
Words near righteous in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: righteous (page history and authors); धर्मराज (Hindi) (page history and authors); righteous (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); righteous (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); righteous (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ধার্মিক (Bengali) (page history and authors); righteous (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); righteous (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); righteous (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); righteous (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); धार्मिक (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). 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: en-us-righteous.ogg.
Cite this entry: “righteous.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/righteous. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.