as in innocently
with purity of thought and deed
if you have acted righteously, you have nothing to fear
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Recent Examples of righteously
The darkly comic crime drama pits Frances McDormand's righteously furious mom against a police force that hasn't caught her daughter's killer.
—
Brian Truitt, USA Today, 4 Mar. 2026
But O’Hara is best known for her role as Kate McCallister in Home Alone, the distracted, frantic, righteously determined mom to Macaulay Culkin’s precocious 8-year-old Kevin.
—Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 30 Jan. 2026
Polak is a symbol of virtue where conscience reigns over fear and intimidation to refute the hateful and divisive rhetoric of people like Charile Kirk who self-righteously relished in denigrating and dehumanizing others in a most un-Christian way.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 14 Jan. 2026
This includes even the discourse of human rights that was righteously invoked against Communism and then against Muslim countries, enshrined by numerous American reports, and wielded to justify economic sanctions.
—Victor J. Blue, Harpers Magazine, 23 Nov. 2025
Brian Truitt, USA Today, 4 Mar. 2026
But O’Hara is best known for her role as Kate McCallister in Home Alone, the distracted, frantic, righteously determined mom to Macaulay Culkin’s precocious 8-year-old Kevin.
—Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 30 Jan. 2026
Polak is a symbol of virtue where conscience reigns over fear and intimidation to refute the hateful and divisive rhetoric of people like Charile Kirk who self-righteously relished in denigrating and dehumanizing others in a most un-Christian way.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 14 Jan. 2026
This includes even the discourse of human rights that was righteously invoked against Communism and then against Muslim countries, enshrined by numerous American reports, and wielded to justify economic sanctions.
—Victor J. Blue, Harpers Magazine, 23 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for righteously
Adverb
-
Her pictures, which start innocently enough from the puppy-dog idea, get increasingly demeaning.—
Rafaela Bassili,
Vulture,
20 Apr. 2026
-
After innocently coming up in the scene by posting songs on Soundcloud, Slayyyter finally signed to a major label last year.—
Selena Fragassi,
SPIN,
1 Apr. 2026
Adverb
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People dispense advice to our heroine of the kind that one encounters in stories properly poised on the cusp of life.—
James Wood,
New Yorker,
4 May 2026
-
Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert, whose staff oversees the cases of more than 600 adults under guardianship and has helped champion the bill, said face-to-face meetings are standard practice in his office prior to appointment and are crucial to properly assessing the person’s needs.—
Christy Gutowski,
Chicago Tribune,
3 May 2026
Adverb
-
This is fundamentally an engineering approach rather than a purely scientific one, since a great deal of foundational research already existed.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
30 Apr. 2026
-
So, purely by reasoning it out, one of those three would seem to be a good candidate to get rid of.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
30 Apr. 2026
Adverb
-
The only question left is what to do with the bank-rich, morally-bankrupt LIV players who wish to migrate back to the PGA.—
Dave Hyde,
Sun Sentinel,
30 Apr. 2026
-
However this ends, the United States is already diminished by it, militarily, diplomatically, economically and morally.—
Jon Duffy,
The Orlando Sentinel,
25 Apr. 2026
Adverb
-
Some of us virtuously recycle items that will be transported across the world to smother island nations in single-use plastic bags and water bottles, milk jugs, yogurt tubs, pet food and potato chip bags, Styrofoam meat trays, Coke bottles, Amazon mailing envelopes, and fast-food wrappers.—
Caroline Fraser,
The New York Review of Books,
4 Apr. 2026
-
The glorious sweep of progress toward Roman civilization and prosperity means the end of an idyllic, virtuously rustic Golden Age.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Righteously.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/righteously. Accessed 6 May. 2026.
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