sanctimonious

Etymology

sanctimony + -ous

adj

  1. Making a show of being morally better than others, especially hypocritically pious.
    It'd be easy to write off Michael Moore as a fat, scruffy, sanctimonious Bolchevik poseur (actually, I do write off Michael Moore as a fat, scruffy, sanctimonious Bolchevik poseur) but the fact is that there's about five minutes of cleverness in this […] 2007, Alan Farrell, High Cheekbones, Pouty Lips, Tight Jeans, Lulu.com, page 77
    And this is indeed needed, since we who consider these awkward Christian ideas are but fearful, sanctimonious people, as Kierkegaard once put it so passionately: O, you sanctimonious people with your love which does not set you apart […] 2013, Ronald F. Marshall, Kierkegaard for the Church: Essays and Sermons, Wipf and Stock Publishers, page 333
  2. (archaic) Holy, devout.

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