self-righteousness

noun

as in sanctimoniousness

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Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of self-righteousness 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 But where the stalker remains self-deluded to the end, Jack’s self-righteousness is tinged with self-awareness. — Matt Zoller Seitz, Vulture, 11 Dec. 2025 But Chapman later grew worried that self-righteousness and a hunger for dominance shaped the attitudes of Conservative Resurgence leaders after their movement ended. — Liam Adams, Nashville Tennessean, 20 Oct. 2025 Roberts performs as Yale philosophy Professor Alma, the self-righteousness that dazzles in her eyes subjugates Edebiri as Maggie, her self-effacing star pupil. — Malik Peay, Essence, 9 Oct. 2025 Such comparisons are too easily drawn, with too much self-righteousness, as though the guilt for what was done to the Jews could be lightened just a little by likening them to their own murderers. — Ian Buruma, New Yorker, 22 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for self-righteousness
  1. self-satisfaction
  2. affectation
  3. deception
  4. dishonesty
  5. pretentiousness
  6. deceit
  7. pretension
  8. deceptiveness
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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • When Gianni Infantino was chosen to replace Sepp Blatter as president of FIFA, he was seen as a reformer, someone who would bring transparency and openness to soccer’s international governing body, which had long been mired in scandal and deceit.
    — Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times, 4 Aug. 2026
  • In my view, to tell the story of America’s founding without referencing these profound scars is akin to deceit, if not complicity.
    — Jacob Ware, The Conversation, 31 July 2026
Definition of deceit
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
Noun
  • Of course, the retort is that this would be irritating and exasperating to be continually deluged with alerts about AI deceptiveness.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 24 Aug. 2025
  • Beyond the deceptiveness of the narrow material view, spiritual light and hope are always present to be found and felt.
    — Sue Brightman, Christian Science Monitor, 3 Jan. 2025
Definition of deceptiveness

Browse Nearby Words

self-righteous
self-righteousness
self-rule
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Cite this Entry

“Self-righteousness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/self-righteousness. Accessed 15 Aug. 2026.

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