sanctimoniousness

noun

Definition of sanctimoniousnessnext
as in affectation

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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
  • 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
  • Bret, who narrates the series with snooty affectation, is primarily parentless, with mom and dad gallivanting around Europe.
    — Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 5 Aug. 2026
Definition of affectation
Noun
  • The situation gets even worse once Bonnie’s concerned parents try to connect their daughter with friends by buying her a Lilypad, a child-appropriate smart tablet in frog-like casing, voiced with slappably perky self-satisfaction by Greta Lee.
    — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 16 June 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
  • 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
  • Advertisement Jones uses his antihero’s blunt self-appraisals to avoid the pretentiousness endemic to stories about artists.
    — Judy Berman, Time, 2 June 2026
Definition of pretentiousness
Noun
  • Good ex-etiquette is about refusing to let someone else’s dishonesty determine your character or your choices.
    — Jann Blackstone, Boston Herald, 9 Aug. 2026
  • Cambridge has since opened a fresh investigation following new information, and Arday has resigned while denying dishonesty and acknowledging mistakes.
    — Nancy Doyle, Forbes.com, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of dishonesty
Noun
  • Her backstory is littered with half-truths and deceptions, including a lie that her mentally disabled younger sister was murdered after being kidnapped.
    — Cheyenne Roundtree, Rolling Stone, 11 Aug. 2026
  • In modern times, as threats have evolved, deception with moving the president has been an integral part of the Secret Service protective methodologies.
    — Donald J. Mihalek, ABC News, 11 Aug. 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
  • The genre, with its sanitized storylines and Oscar-baiting pretensions, seems fundamentally at odds with the iconoclastic chef and television personality.
    — Seija Rankin, HollywoodReporter, 6 Aug. 2026
  • Like Paul Schrader’s 1982 version of the latter, this is an upscale genre piece whose pretensions towards Art are upfront, starting with a quotation from no less than Schopenhauer.
    — Dennis Harvey, Variety, 30 July 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
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Cite this Entry

“Sanctimoniousness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sanctimoniousness. Accessed 17 Aug. 2026.

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