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/ˌsæŋk.tɪˈməʊ.ni.əs/ · adjective
Making a show of being morally better than others, especially hypocritically pious..
Near-synonyms: smug; see also Thesaurus:arrogant
Thou conclud'st like the sanctimonious pirate, that went to sea with the Ten Commandements, but scrap'd one out of the table.
[O]ne / Discuss'd his tutor, rough to common men / But honeying at the whisper of a lord; / And one the Master, as a rogue in grain / Veneer'd with sanctimonious theory.
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 […]
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 […]
Use sanctimonious when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.
Sanctimonious means Making a show of being morally better than others, especially hypocritically pious..
Common synonyms include holier-than-thou, smug, airy, arrogant.
The opposite depends on the specific sense.
Near-synonyms: smug; see also Thesaurus:arrogant
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