as in pious
disapproving
having or showing a strong belief that your own actions, opinions, etc., are right and other people's are wrong
a self-righteous tone It's OK to criticize, but don't get self-righteous about it.
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Recent Examples of self-righteous
They are sent off to a grandmother in Ontario who is the epitome of cold, self-righteous Protestant virtue.
—
Margaret Atwood, New Yorker, 6 Apr. 2025
Today's Democratic party is dominated by self-righteous, upper-middle class, coastal elites—people wealthy enough to avoid sending their children to failing public schools and able to overlook the true costs of their green agenda.
—Newsweek Staff, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Apr. 2025
This is usually where the self-righteous defenders of Trump’s blatantly unconstitutional tactics insist that the protections of the Constitution only apply to U.S. citizens.
—Nisha Whitehead, Oc Register, 28 Mar. 2025
William is a self-righteous and conspiracy-minded and ruthlessly ambitious man who hides his darker side behind a charming facade.
—Rick Porter, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for self-righteous
Margaret Atwood, New Yorker, 6 Apr. 2025
Today's Democratic party is dominated by self-righteous, upper-middle class, coastal elites—people wealthy enough to avoid sending their children to failing public schools and able to overlook the true costs of their green agenda.
—Newsweek Staff, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Apr. 2025
This is usually where the self-righteous defenders of Trump’s blatantly unconstitutional tactics insist that the protections of the Constitution only apply to U.S. citizens.
—Nisha Whitehead, Oc Register, 28 Mar. 2025
William is a self-righteous and conspiracy-minded and ruthlessly ambitious man who hides his darker side behind a charming facade.
—Rick Porter, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for self-righteous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for self-righteous
Adjective
-
Moyers’ preacher-like delivery and emphasis on high moral standards in his commentaries led some people to criticize him as being a pious scold.—
Stephen Battaglio,
Los Angeles Times,
27 June 2025
-
This message and the pious and social acts of Eid, such as celebrating with friends and family and spreading acts of charity exemplify mindfulness and can be helpful when implemented regularly.—
Monica Haider,
CNN Money,
6 June 2025
Adjective
-
The smug and sanctimonious tenor of their briefing makes that plain.—
Christie D’Zurilla,
Los Angeles Times,
18 June 2025
-
In fact, whiny, self-contradictory, and sanctimonious art has achieved a great deal of cultural-political, though not necessarily artistic, success.—
Diedrich Diederichsen,
Artforum,
1 June 2025
Adjective
-
Avoid generic, spammy tactics, over-automation or dishonest ploys.—
Samuel Darwin,
Forbes.com,
24 June 2025
-
The reasons for such concerns start with the shockingly dishonest campaign for Proposition 1A, the 2008 state ballot measure allocating $9.95 billion in bond seed money for a network of bullet trains linking Los Angeles and San Francisco.—
U T Editorial Board,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
20 June 2025
Adjective
-
The same moralistic spirit that once defined Minnesota’s politics now fuels passionate polarization.—
David Schultz,
New York Daily News,
17 June 2025
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Those on the left must recognize that their moralistic zeal and narrowing of intellectual discourse have turned educational and cultural institutions into engines of alienation, not trust.—
Paul Du Quenoy,
MSNBC Newsweek,
19 May 2025
Adjective
-
The earliest use cases have shown up where human labor is most strained and speed is a competitive edge, support desks, sales pipelines, email inboxes and even the marketing office where agentic marketplaces like Enso offer an entire team’s worth of agentic replacements.—
Alexander Puutio,
Forbes.com,
18 June 2025
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The All-Star pitcher, who’s coming back from a strained left hamstring, threw 55 pitches between Saturday’s outing in the Arizona Complex League and an extra session in the bullpen.—
Patrick Mooney,
New York Times,
16 June 2025
Adjective
-
By proactively identifying and mitigating potential data pitfalls and by diligently implementing these four key strategies, product strategy teams can transition from having a superficial reliance on data to a deep and comprehensive mastery of it.—
Ramalakshmi Murugan,
Forbes.com,
20 June 2025
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Yet the superficial script lets the actors and crew members down.—
Stephen Farber,
HollywoodReporter,
16 June 2025
Adjective
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Now, instead of being a source of national pride, many elite universities have become a source of national division, with some Americans viewing them as decadent, hypocritical or even hostile to their values.—
Allison Schrager,
Twin Cities,
3 June 2025
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The true villain is Herod, who, in his hypocritical mixture of slobbering lust and grandstanding moralism, is a model man of power.—
Alex Ross,
New Yorker,
19 May 2025
Adjective
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If an investigation finds that products are made with forced labor, the company is given time to address the problem before its products are banned from European markets.—
Troy Aidan Sambajon,
Christian Science Monitor,
10 June 2025
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Absent a forced crisis, Chicago may follow the path of many other once-great cities, cutting services and raising taxes each year and slowly bleeding residents and jobs.—
Forrest Claypool,
Chicago Tribune,
2 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Self-righteous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/self-righteous. Accessed 2 Jul. 2025.
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