hypocrisy

hy·poc·ri·sy

noun \hi-ˈpä-krə-sē also hī-\

plural hy·poc·ri·sies

Definition of HYPOCRISY

1

: a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not; especially : the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion

2

: an act or instance of hypocrisy

Examples of HYPOCRISY

1. When his private letters were made public, they revealed his hypocrisy.
2. the hypocrisy of people who say one thing but do another
3. Teenagers often have a keen awareness of their parents' hypocrisies.

Origin of HYPOCRISY

Middle English ypocrisie, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin hypocrisis, from Greek hypokrisis act of playing a part on the stage, hypocrisy, from hypokrinesthai to answer, act on the stage, from hypo- + krinein to decide — more at certain

First Known Use: 13th century

Related to HYPOCRISY

Synonyms: cant, dissembling, dissimulation, insincerity, piousness

Antonyms: genuineness, sincereness, sincerity

Related Words: deceit, deceitfulness, deception, deceptiveness, dishonesty, double-dealing, falsity, perfidy, two-facedness; affectation, affectedness, pretense (or pretence), pretension, pretentiousness, sanctimoniousness, self-righteousness, self-satisfaction; duplicity, fakery, falseness, fraudulentness, shamming; artificiality, glibness, oiliness, smoothness, unctuousness

Near Antonyms: candor, directness, forthrightness, frankness, honesty, openheartedness, openness, probity, straightforwardness, truthfulness; artlessness, guilelessness, naturalness, unaffectedness

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Rhymes with HYPOCRISY

autocracy, bureaucracy, democracy, Eurocracy, kleptocracy, mobocracy, plantocracy, plutocracy, slavocracy, technocracy, theocracy