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
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The initiative focuses on publishing concise, high-quality species descriptions to shorten the gap between discovery and formal recognition drastically.—
Aamir Khollam,
Interesting Engineering,
16 Oct. 2025
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The other cuts in as needed — concise, disarming, right on cue.—
Alma Rota,
Rolling Stone,
14 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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After a brief struggle for traction, the robot regained control by crouching slightly, mimicking a human posture to exert force.—
Atharva Gosavi,
Interesting Engineering,
28 Oct. 2025
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But the music industry can be particularly cruel to sexy women, their shelf life being brief.—
Tatiana Siegel,
Variety,
28 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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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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Much of Iran’s clandestine cinema, including some of Panahi’s earlier works, is didactic, focused on valorizing the victims of the regime’s injustices.—
Arash Azizi,
The Atlantic,
22 Oct. 2025
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It was considered immoral to lie and the whole point of writing things down back then was to increase morality and improve society, so there really is no didactic history of forgery.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
16 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The result is short, lyrical narratives that aim to be enjoyable, uplifting, and emotionally instructive.—
William Jones,
USA Today,
22 Oct. 2025
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But the sequence was instructive and resulted in a tactical adjustment, made possible by a triple substitution at half-time.—
Anantaajith Raghuraman,
New York Times,
19 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Taken together, these triumphal and tragic elements constitute the ingredients for an epic historical narrative that defies all moralistic categories, a story rooted in the coexistence of grandeur and failure, brilliance and blindness, grace and sin.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Oct. 2025
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Initially, bedtime stories tended to be moralistic tales designed to reinforce obedience and proper behavior.—
David Wingrave,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Sententious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sententious. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.
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