sanctimonious
Syllables: sanc·ti·mo·ni·ousUK/ˌsæŋk.tɪˈməʊ.ni.əs//ˌsæŋk.tɪˈmoʊ.ni.əs/
sanctimonious adjective: making a show of being morally better than others, especially hypocritically pious.
Adjective
sanctimonious (comparative more sanctimonious, superlative most sanctimonious)
- Making a show of being morally better than others, especially hypocritically pious.
- Near-synonyms: smug, self-righteous; see also Thesaurus:arrogant
- Thou conclud'st like the sanctimonious pirate, that went to sea with the Ten Commandements, but scrap'd one out of the table.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- Synonyms:
- holier-than-thou, pietistic, smug, self-righteous, airy, arrogant, chesty, authoritarian, biggity, big-headed
- Holy, devout.
- Synonyms:
- godly, pious, blessed, sacred, Allah-fearing, devout, devoutful, frum, godfearing, heavenly-minded
sanctimonious meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam
sanctimonious in Hindi
- making a show of being morally better than others, especially hypocritically
- पाखण्ड pākhaṇḍ
sanctimonious in Tamil
- திருநிலைப்பகட்டு வாய்ந்த, ஆரவாரப் புனிதத் தோற்றமுடைய, செயற்கைச் சமயப் பற்றார்வங் காட்டுகிற
sanctimonious in Urdu
- دکھاوٹی
sanctimonious in Malayalam
- pious, self-righteous, holier-than-thou
- പുണ്യാളത്തനാട്യമുള്ള, പുണ്യവാളനായി നടിക്കുന്ന, നിഷ്കൃഷ്ടമായി ധർമ്മനിഷ്ഠ പാലിക്കുന്ന, വിശുദ്ധ ഭാവമുള്ള, ദാംഭികനായ, നിഷ്കൃഷ്ടമായ സദാചാരനിയമനിഷ്ഠ പാലിക്കുന്ന
More languagesFewer languages
- sanctimonious in Kannada
- ಧಾರ್ಮಿಕತೆಯನ್ನು ನಟಿಸುವ, ಭಕ್ತಿಯನ್ನು ತೋರಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವ, ಆಷಾಢಭೂತಿತನದ
- sanctimonious in Indonesian
- sok suci
Synonyms of sanctimonious
- holier-than-thou
- pietistic
- smug
- self-righteous
- airy
- arrogant
- chesty
- authoritarian
- biggity
- big-headed
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- blustery
- turgescent
- boastful
- lordly
- 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
Forms of sanctimonious
| comparative | more sanctimonious |
|---|---|
| superlative | most sanctimonious |
Origin of sanctimonious
From sanctimony + -ous.
Words formed from sanctimonious
Words that rhyme with sanctimonious
- ceremonious
- melonious
- harmonious
- parsimonious
- acrimonious
- felonious
- inharmonious
- agonious
- commonious
- disharmonious
- euphonious
- nonius
3 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about sanctimonious
- What does sanctimonious mean?
- Sanctimonious means making a show of being morally better than others, especially hypocritically pious.
- What is sanctimonious in Hindi?
- Sanctimonious in Hindi is पाखण्ड (pākhaṇḍ). See Sanctimonious meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is sanctimonious?
- Sanctimonious is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce sanctimonious?
- Sanctimonious is pronounced /ˌsæŋk.tɪˈməʊ.ni.əs/ (UK).
Words near sanctimonious in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sanctimonious (page history and authors); sanctimonious (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); sanctimonious (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); sanctimonious (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); sanctimonious (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-sanctimonious.ogg, En-us-sanctimonious.oga.
Cite this entry: “sanctimonious.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sanctimonious. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.