1
as in moralizing
marked by or given to preaching moral values
a sententious crank who has written countless letters to the editor about the decline in family values
Synonyms & Similar Words
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2
as in concise
marked by the use of few words to convey much information or meaning
memoirs that are filled with sententious observations on love, marriage, and happiness
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of sententious
This conclusion will shock anyone who knows Twain only through his writing, in which the author is wise and witty and, above all, devastating in his portrayal of frauds, cretins, and sententious bores.
—
Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 9 May 2025
Audiences have no choice but to exist in the theatrical moment, without recourse to linear logic, sententious language or psychological epiphanies.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 16 Mar. 2025
This is a bracing, even novel, perspective on a war whose film depictions so often traffic in sententious Greatest Generation platitudes.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 25 Oct. 2024
Without the wit inherent in an epigram, a sententious formulation becomes a mere adage, aphorism, apothegm, gnome, maxim, or saw.
—Bryan A. Garner, National Review, 15 Sep. 2022
Instead each event—from lethal accidents to vicious murders to Category 5 hurricanes—is immediately sorted into its prelabeled moral narrative file, each one full of similarly useful sententious parables.
—Gerard Baker, WSJ, 30 May 2022
Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 9 May 2025
Audiences have no choice but to exist in the theatrical moment, without recourse to linear logic, sententious language or psychological epiphanies.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 16 Mar. 2025
This is a bracing, even novel, perspective on a war whose film depictions so often traffic in sententious Greatest Generation platitudes.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 25 Oct. 2024
Without the wit inherent in an epigram, a sententious formulation becomes a mere adage, aphorism, apothegm, gnome, maxim, or saw.
—Bryan A. Garner, National Review, 15 Sep. 2022
Instead each event—from lethal accidents to vicious murders to Category 5 hurricanes—is immediately sorted into its prelabeled moral narrative file, each one full of similarly useful sententious parables.
—Gerard Baker, WSJ, 30 May 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sententious
Adjective
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Most of the roughly 200 episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger have the moralizing flavor of after-school specials, albeit weirdly violent ones.—
Chris Klimek,
The Atlantic,
23 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
The notes for his speech offer a concise distillation of what makes Louisville special.—
Adam Sachs,
Condé Nast Traveler,
28 Mar. 2026
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That role falls to the capsule communicator, or CapCom, who ensures that the crew receives clear and concise communication.—
Katie Hunt,
CNN Money,
26 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Suggest a timeline that protects quality, confirm roles in writing, and schedule a brief follow-up to keep everyone aligned, whether partnered, solo, or collaborating.—
Tarot.com,
Hartford Courant,
2 Apr. 2026
-
Breaking from a brief decline, jail deaths again rose statewide in 2025.—
Ryan Oehrli
April 1,
Charlotte Observer,
1 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Season 2 features a laughably didactic arc in which a family earns too much to qualify for Medicaid and too little to pay their bill.—
Graham Hillard,
The Washington Examiner,
13 Mar. 2026
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And the violent scenes aren’t grotesque or didactic — think of Miles’ muted trumpet sound reconfigured as resurrection visuals, of his ability to play and stage ballads so well that their uptempo momentum moves into territories too macabre to mute.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
4 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Such rights obviously do not include summary execution at sea.—
Mary Ellen O'Connell,
The Conversation,
4 Sep. 2025
-
Not surprisingly, given the risk of summary execution, many had initial doubts.—
Yossi Melman,
ProPublica,
7 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
That silence was also instructive, some prominent American Jews said.—
Eyal Press,
New Yorker,
30 Mar. 2026
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What Lamont does not do is equally instructive.—
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld,
Hartford Courant,
29 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Good intentions — and handsome animation — aside, Forevergreen is ultimately too maudlin and moralistic to rank it much higher than this.—
Joe Reid,
Vulture,
10 Mar. 2026
-
The script, penned by Bartek Bartosik and Naqqash Khalid, becomes bizarrely moralistic by the end, insinuating that the debased and debauched might perhaps see their problems solved by becoming domesticated.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
6 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Sententious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sententious. Accessed 3 Apr. 2026.
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