- hypocrisy
- hypocrisy, sanctimony, pharisaism, cant mean the pretense or affectation of being more virtuous or more religious than one actually is. The same differences in implications and connotations are found in their corresponding adjectives, hypocritical, sanctimonious, pharisaical, canting.Hypocrisy and hypocritical, the most inclusive of these terms, imply an assumption of goodness, sincerity, or piety by one who is either not good, sincere, or pious or is actually corrupt, dishonest, or irreligious{
I thought where all thy circling wiles would end—in feigned religion, smooth hypocrisy— Milton
}{be hypocritical, be cautious, be not what you seem but always what you see— Byron
}{Archer's New York tolerated hypocrisy in private relations; but in business matters it exacted a limpid and impeccable honesty— Wharton
}{much of the religiosity which unwise parents delight to observe in their children is . . . innocent hypocrisy—/nge
}{the passing stranger who took such a vitriolic joy in exposing their pretensions and their hypocrisy— Brooks
}Sanctimony and sanctimonious are terms of opprobrium implying an affectation or merely outward pretense of holiness or of piety{he took pleasure in comparing the sanctity of the early Christians with the sanctimony of many modern churchgoers
}{the preacher urged his flock to seek holiness but to take care lest they fall into sanctimony
}{sanctimonious professions of faith
}{a woman who was religious without being sanctimonious— Stokes
}Pharisaism and Pharisaical imply a stern and censorious attitude to the manners and morals of others or a conviction of one's own moral superiority, or both; the terms frequently suggest sanctimony or, less often, out-and-out hypocrisy{pharisaism, stupidity, and despotism reign not in merchants' houses and prisons alone— Farrell
}{the assured, the positive, the Pharisaical temper, that believes itself to be impregnably in the right and its opponents indubitably in the wrong— Benson
}Cant (see also DIALECT) and canting imply the use of religious or pietistic language or phraseology in such a way as to suggest sanctimony or hypocrisy rather than genuine holiness or deep religiousness; often, however, the terms suggest reference not only to such outward indications of sanctimony and hypocrisy but to the state of mind or the attitude of one who is so Pharisaical, or so deeply convinced of his righteousness or holiness, that he is unaware that he is displaying his religion in a mechanical or perfunctory rather than in a sincere manner and in a spirit of arrogance rather than of humility{a canting moralist
}{a canting assumption of his righteousness
}{the whole spiritual atmosphere was saturated with cant... an affectation of high principle which had ceased to touch the conduct, and flowed on in . . . insincere and unreal speech— Froude
}{one of those rare artists . . . who, by virtue of some inward grace, constantly flowing through the intellect, purge the mind of cant— Brooks
}
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
