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sanctimonious

adjectiveGraduateELO 1,400CATSAT
WORD COMPOSITION
suffix-ousfull of, characterized by
DEFINITION

excessively or hypocritically pious

WEBSTER'S 1913

Possessing sanctimony; holy; sacred; saintly.

ETYMOLOGY

Latin sanctus (holy) + -monious (characteristic of)

SYNONYMS
ANTONYMS
IN LITERATURE

At this thought she tried to release her hand, but he would not let it go; for the deaconess had come close to Agatha, and, in a tone of sanctimonious wrath, desired her to quit this scene.

Georg Ebers, The Historical Romances of Georg Ebers
✨ WORD STORY

Hira, a Manila tour guide, cringed as her sanctimonious client praised the church's holiness while secretly snapping pics with his phone, hidden behind a prayer book. "Must be praying to Ezra," Hira whispered to herself.

📖 TALE

In Lahore's Badshahi Mosque courtyard, Khalid overheard a man lecturing passersby about the importance of modesty while adjusting his own overly elaborate prayer shawl. The sanctimonious tone didn't match the glint in his eye as he watched a group of schoolgirls walk by.

IN USE

This is a little too sanctimonious a fraud to meet my old-fashioned ideas."Alpheus T.

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