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
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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
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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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
Only the vivid image of the warped planks keeps this remark from being the type of sententious counsel that Polonius might have given his son.
—Nikhil Krishnan, The New Yorker, 26 June 2023
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
Dialogue is rendered in the pseudo-profound pronouncements that have become the sententious lingua franca of the hero’s quest.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 21 Apr. 2022
This melodramatic narrative fits right into American indie filmmaker Kelly Reichardt’s domain, but Francis Lee is a less sententious proselytizer for gay life.
—Armond White, National Review, 13 Nov. 2020
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
Only the vivid image of the warped planks keeps this remark from being the type of sententious counsel that Polonius might have given his son.
—Nikhil Krishnan, The New Yorker, 26 June 2023
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
Dialogue is rendered in the pseudo-profound pronouncements that have become the sententious lingua franca of the hero’s quest.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 21 Apr. 2022
This melodramatic narrative fits right into American indie filmmaker Kelly Reichardt’s domain, but Francis Lee is a less sententious proselytizer for gay life.
—Armond White, National Review, 13 Nov. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sententious
Adjective
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This pick comes with a concise summary that gives you insight into the rigor of quality research and my approach to picking stocks.—
David Trainer,
Forbes.com,
31 July 2025
-
Draft concise speaker notes, of a maximum length of 40 words, to accompany each slide.—
Bernard Marr,
Forbes.com,
25 July 2025
Adjective
-
July’s consumer price index held steady at 2.7% year over year — slightly below expectations — offering a brief sense of relief.—
Benzinga,
Freep.com,
16 Aug. 2025
-
After a brief evaluation, he was escorted by a trainer off the sideline and into the Dolphins’ locker room.—
David Furones,
Sun Sentinel,
16 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
Not surprisingly, given the risk of summary execution, many had initial doubts.—
Yossi Melman,
ProPublica,
7 Aug. 2025
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The young man risked beatings that would end in summary execution for sneaking in extra food to prisoners who were supposed to be the empire’s work-and-starve-to-death slaves.—
Charles Pellegrino,
Rolling Stone,
6 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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At the level of craft, writers and executive producers Fellowes and Sonja Warfield didn’t feel the need to get didactic in the script.—
Rebecca Alter,
Vulture,
14 July 2025
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My intention as a filmmaker wasn’t to present these issues in a didactic or graphic way, but to reflect the emotional undercurrents, the silences, the strategies of survival and the subtle forms of resistance.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
10 July 2025
Adjective
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Seen through that lens, Nvidia’s move is instructive.—
Dev Patnaik,
Forbes.com,
6 Aug. 2025
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Still, a now-humorous anecdote can be instructive as to why these types of negotiations can be so tricky.—
Parker Gabriel,
Denver Post,
2 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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His disdain for the brothers’ moralistic literary choices was clear.—
Time,
Time,
23 July 2025
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Intervention by authorities has Indian moviegoers fuming, who accuse the censors of making moralistic changes while adopting a double standard for Bollywood films, which are often laced with innuendos, misogyny and sensual scenes.—
Mithil Aggarwal,
NBC news,
16 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Sententious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sententious. Accessed 20 Aug. 2025.
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