as in pious
formal + disapproving
pretending to be morally better than other people
sanctimonious politicians A sanctimonious speech from someone who refused to acknowledge his own past failings.
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Recent Examples of sanctimonious
There’s nothing sanctimonious about insisting on civil rights for transgender people nor about fighting for racial justice.
—
Literary Hub, 29 Jan. 2026
Advertisement For those of us who’ve historically found Stause to be sanctimonious, passive-aggressive, and prone to playing the victim, there’s plenty in both her post and her behavior throughout the reunion to support that view.
—Judy Berman, Time, 5 Nov. 2025
That online comment was characteristic of the usual sanctimonious pablum, the kind of casual moral high ground afforded only to a native English speaker or to someone willfully ignorant of the daily indignities non-native speakers face.
—Sheon Han, Wired News, 27 Oct. 2025
Forget any sanctimonious spewing sermon about pro sports foolishly believing these types of things would not happen.
—Mac Engel, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 23 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sanctimonious
Literary Hub, 29 Jan. 2026
Advertisement For those of us who’ve historically found Stause to be sanctimonious, passive-aggressive, and prone to playing the victim, there’s plenty in both her post and her behavior throughout the reunion to support that view.
—Judy Berman, Time, 5 Nov. 2025
That online comment was characteristic of the usual sanctimonious pablum, the kind of casual moral high ground afforded only to a native English speaker or to someone willfully ignorant of the daily indignities non-native speakers face.
—Sheon Han, Wired News, 27 Oct. 2025
Forget any sanctimonious spewing sermon about pro sports foolishly believing these types of things would not happen.
—Mac Engel, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 23 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sanctimonious
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sanctimonious
Adjective
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As Mildred Layton, the pious pastor’s wife first played on screen by Kristin Chenoweth, Ana Gasteyer is in her element.—
Dave Quinn,
PEOPLE,
21 Apr. 2026
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The Colombian grandmother of my childhood summers was funny, mean, pious, and hard—despite being tremendously sensitive in her own way.—
Adriana E. Ramírez,
Literary Hub,
15 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The second happens when the cords of logic break entirely; these patients jump from idea to idea in a meaningless way, and their speech is nonsensical—what doctors call word salad.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Apr. 2026
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And at the same time, how meaningless a basketball game actually was in the bigger scheme of things.—
Charles Bethea,
New Yorker,
26 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Sanctimonious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sanctimonious. Accessed 3 May. 2026.
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