sanctimoniousness

noun

Definition of sanctimoniousnessnext
as in affectation

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for sanctimoniousness
  1. affectation
  2. self-satisfaction
  3. self-righteousness
  4. pretentiousness
  5. dishonesty
  6. deception
  7. perfidy
  8. pretension
Noun
  • With rare exceptions, EV sound is little more than an affectation.
    — Byron Hurd, The Drive, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Robinhood's banking product arrived with private-bank affectations, estate planning, event access, cash to the door, priced at $5 a month inside a bundle a 30-year-old already pays for.
    — Zennon Kapron, Forbes.com, 6 Aug. 2026
Definition of affectation
Noun
  • His face is a mix of affectlessness and self-satisfaction, putting him somewhere between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, with a touch of the Cheshire cat.
    — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 8 Sep. 2026
  • After 50 minutes of self-satisfaction, the hero fades serenely into a sunset that Dudamel made miraculously mystical.
    — Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, 3 June 2026
Definition of self-satisfaction
Noun
  • Although humanity’s salvation may appear to come in fits and starts, God’s healing influence always penetrates and gets through callous self-righteousness and indifference.
    — Mark Swinney, Christian Science Monitor, 21 July 2026
  • But Flynn also oozes sniveling self-righteousness while hotly defending and petitioning for childhood innocence (amusing hints emerge that the daughter is a somewhat lazy and dim underachiever).
    — Christopher Smith, Oc Register, 7 Apr. 2026
Definition of self-righteousness
Noun
  • Staff members treat patrons like family, a welcome departure from the pretentiousness that sometimes comes with more luxurious bookings.
    — Joey Skladany, Condé Nast Traveler, 30 Sep. 2026
  • Gabrielle and Katerina credit the enduring appeal of Dan Tana’s to its persistent lack of pretentiousness.
    — Maddie Connors, Los Angeles Times, 14 July 2026
Definition of pretentiousness
Noun
  • The practice of yama includes avoiding violence, dishonesty, theft and greed, and cultivating brahmacharya.
    — Bhakti Mamtora, The Conversation, 30 Sep. 2026
  • Set against the backdrop of political dishonesty and the country’s abandonment of ideals, the book probes questions about how to be an artist in the world.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of dishonesty
Noun
  • Magpies are opportunistic scavengers, incredibly cunning and deceitful and capable of calculated deception.
    — Voice of the People, New York Daily News, 28 Sep. 2026
  • This experience combines identity deception, autonomous agent action and software supply-chain risk, along with social engineering devised by an agent and directed against a human.
    — Carlo Tortora Brayda, Forbes.com, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of deception
Noun
  • Platner, indeed, has boiled down nearly all political problems to the perfidy of sinister oligarchs.
    — Jonathan Chait, The Atlantic, 6 July 2026
  • If the landing had been faked, the Soviets would have figured it out and would have loved to reveal to the world America’s perfidy.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 May 2026
Definition of perfidy
Noun
  • Their trading volume, political influence and public profiles have expanded — as have their pretensions.
    — W. Joseph Campbell, The Conversation, 22 Sep. 2026
  • Anyone can join this adventure, this surge of solidarity through collective prayer for our world, to put a stop to all the pretensions of evil.
    — The Christian Science Monitor, Christian Science Monitor, 21 Sep. 2026
Definition of pretension
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

sanctimonious
sanctimoniousness
sanctimony
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Sanctimoniousness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sanctimoniousness. Accessed 5 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
name tags
Words Named After People Quiz Find out who’s behind "leotard," "morphine," an...
See All