1
as in homiletical
marked by or given to preaching moral values
a sententious crank who has written countless letters to the editor about the decline in family values
Synonyms & Similar Words
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2
as in concise
marked by the use of few words to convey much information or meaning
memoirs that are filled with sententious observations on love, marriage, and happiness
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of sententious
This conclusion will shock anyone who knows Twain only through his writing, in which the author is wise and witty and, above all, devastating in his portrayal of frauds, cretins, and sententious bores.
—
Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 9 May 2025
Audiences have no choice but to exist in the theatrical moment, without recourse to linear logic, sententious language or psychological epiphanies.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 16 Mar. 2025
This is a bracing, even novel, perspective on a war whose film depictions so often traffic in sententious Greatest Generation platitudes.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 25 Oct. 2024
Without the wit inherent in an epigram, a sententious formulation becomes a mere adage, aphorism, apothegm, gnome, maxim, or saw.
—Bryan A. Garner, National Review, 15 Sep. 2022
Instead each event—from lethal accidents to vicious murders to Category 5 hurricanes—is immediately sorted into its prelabeled moral narrative file, each one full of similarly useful sententious parables.
—Gerard Baker, WSJ, 30 May 2022
Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 9 May 2025
Audiences have no choice but to exist in the theatrical moment, without recourse to linear logic, sententious language or psychological epiphanies.
—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 16 Mar. 2025
This is a bracing, even novel, perspective on a war whose film depictions so often traffic in sententious Greatest Generation platitudes.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 25 Oct. 2024
Without the wit inherent in an epigram, a sententious formulation becomes a mere adage, aphorism, apothegm, gnome, maxim, or saw.
—Bryan A. Garner, National Review, 15 Sep. 2022
Instead each event—from lethal accidents to vicious murders to Category 5 hurricanes—is immediately sorted into its prelabeled moral narrative file, each one full of similarly useful sententious parables.
—Gerard Baker, WSJ, 30 May 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sententious
Adjective
-
Springsteen obliged, with a statement that was at once concise and powerful.—
Jon Blistein,
Rolling Stone,
3 Oct. 2025
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Bednar’s response was concise, but hard to argue with.—
Corey Masisak,
Denver Post,
22 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The brief Bagley lead was filed on behalf of Mathew Shurka, an LGBT advocate who testified in support of Colorado’s law while it was being debated.—
Jack Birle,
The Washington Examiner,
7 Oct. 2025
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And in what could be even better news—for everyone other than Matthews, anyway—his reign atop the earnings ranking is likely to be brief.—
Brett Knight,
Forbes.com,
7 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Such rights obviously do not include summary execution at sea.—
Mary Ellen O'Connell,
The Conversation,
4 Sep. 2025
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Not surprisingly, given the risk of summary execution, many had initial doubts.—
Yossi Melman,
ProPublica,
7 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Such subtlety may not necessarily be what readers—perhaps American readers, in particular—expect from political fiction, which can have a reputation for being didactic and heavy-handed, designed to beat readers over the head, as if anything political were made in the mode of Soviet realism.—
Lily Meyer,
The Atlantic,
5 Sep. 2025
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Curiosity is almost a like a science, didactic and patient.—
Alexandra Bregman,
Forbes.com,
1 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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The state of West Virginia is a particularly instructive—and in some ways surprising—case.—
Dhruv Khullar,
New Yorker,
24 Sep. 2025
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Infrastructure overbuild Perhaps the most instructive parallel for today’s AI boom lies in the massive infrastructure overinvestment that preceded the dot-com crash.—
Dave Smith,
Fortune,
23 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The heroine of Mansfield Park, Fanny Price, is the most moralistic young person in her household (and the most ignored).—
Emily Zarevich,
JSTOR Daily,
11 Sep. 2025
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What matters is a heavy focus on aesthetic and moralistic perfection.—
Olivia Crandall,
Vulture,
10 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Sententious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sententious. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.
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