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
-
There’s a particularly tragic scene where Natalia, lured on holiday by Elsa, spots a small child innocently giggling at the table across from her at dinner.—
Lily Ford,
HollywoodReporter,
15 May 2026
-
For the person who innocently took her rugby kit to the hospital four years ago, representing her country would feel like a just reward for Balogun’s perseverance and strength of will.—
George Ramsay,
New York Times,
7 May 2026
Adverb
-
Slices of cold roast beef, beautiful and rare, come attended by a snowy blob of properly sinus-clearing horseradish cream, with a pickled black walnut on top like the cherry on a sundae and a crumbly wedge of cheddar.—
Helen Rosner,
New Yorker,
17 May 2026
-
Slot is a good communicator who tries to properly answer every question, slipping in the occasional attempt at humour.—
Carl Anka,
New York Times,
17 May 2026
Adverb
-
This is proof that sometimes divine intervention-like occurrences can happen, occurring purely via the Grace of God.—
Gary Franks,
Hartford Courant,
14 May 2026
-
From another, money is seen purely as a unit of account, a measurement like a meter or a year, so that the question of how much of it there is, is a category error, like asking how many inches there are in Europe.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
13 May 2026
Adverb
-
The Vatican and the Constitution show the way morally and legally.—
Ramesh Ponnuru,
Washington Post,
14 May 2026
-
Series two will expand the tense, morally complex world of Prisoner, with Amber back in uniform — but not back to normal.—
Lily Ford,
HollywoodReporter,
14 May 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 20 May. 2026.
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