as in pious
disapproving
having or showing a strong belief that your own actions, opinions, etc., are right and other people's are wrong
a self-righteous tone It's OK to criticize, but don't get self-righteous about it.
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of self-righteous
Being judgmental was also evaluated very negatively, as it was often perceived as being self-righteous or hypocritical.
—
Ars Technica, 30 Dec. 2024
First up is Denzel Washington as a self-righteous former slave whose revenge plans include matching the beastliness of his captors slash for gash, and those depraved co-emperors Fred Hechinger and Joseph Quinn, whose Kardashian brothers zeal for squeals steals the Colosseum show.
—Steven Gaydos, Variety, 16 Dec. 2024
But recent years have marked a subtle shift from self-righteous battles over reputation to less principled conflicts over branding control, like when Kanye West disowned his participation in Coodie & Chike’s 2022 documentary Jeen-Yuhs because he was denied final cut.
—Mosi Reeves, Rolling Stone, 27 Nov. 2024
His parents, one a co-leader in the 1980s of South Central’s Black-Korean Coalition, the other a union organizer, push back on his self-righteous idealism.
—Ruth Madievsky, The Atlantic, 20 Nov. 2024
See All Example Sentences for self-righteous
Ars Technica, 30 Dec. 2024
First up is Denzel Washington as a self-righteous former slave whose revenge plans include matching the beastliness of his captors slash for gash, and those depraved co-emperors Fred Hechinger and Joseph Quinn, whose Kardashian brothers zeal for squeals steals the Colosseum show.
—Steven Gaydos, Variety, 16 Dec. 2024
But recent years have marked a subtle shift from self-righteous battles over reputation to less principled conflicts over branding control, like when Kanye West disowned his participation in Coodie & Chike’s 2022 documentary Jeen-Yuhs because he was denied final cut.
—Mosi Reeves, Rolling Stone, 27 Nov. 2024
His parents, one a co-leader in the 1980s of South Central’s Black-Korean Coalition, the other a union organizer, push back on his self-righteous idealism.
—Ruth Madievsky, The Atlantic, 20 Nov. 2024
See All Example Sentences for self-righteous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for self-righteous
Adjective
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The grieving sisters try to uncover the truth about what happened to Grace, and increasingly suspect Roger’s pious, overbearing sister Angelica (Fiona Shaw) of wrongdoing — but turn out to be (mostly) wrong about her intentions.—
Meredith Blake,
Los Angeles Times,
24 Dec. 2024
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Advertisement Nazanin goes through the same preparations as Salme, who has turned supremely pious in the intervening years, and Zari, who has grown more level-headed, not to say jaded.—
Charles McNulty,
Los Angeles Times,
21 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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This is the sanctimonious language of social media — the tone and medium Adichie criticized in her 2021 blog post — not of a nuanced social novel.—
Sanjena Sathian,
Vulture,
24 Feb. 2025
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My point is simply that these perspectives have been so abused in America that God has become a sanctimonious prop that has more to do with a person’s politics than with any authentic spiritual insight.—
B.G. White,
Hartford Courant,
18 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
Truth oaths are not just for the U.S. Internal Revenue Service but for many different companies that want to curb dishonest behavior or that ask employees to report information that is difficult to verify.—
IESE Business School,
Forbes,
7 Mar. 2025
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Greta’s stealth revolution may look natural, but the change is weak and dishonest.—
Armond White,
National Review,
5 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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The United States has flipped from a moralistic benefactor to a transactional predator of Kyiv’s resources.—
Nick Paton Walsh,
CNN,
24 Feb. 2025
-
Cigarettes were first popularized in a more moralistic era.—
Cal Newport,
The New Yorker,
22 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
For years, Knight has hinted at Snoop’s alleged jealousy of Tupac, believing that the East Coast-West Coast rivalry and personal tensions led to strained relationships within their inner circle.—
Preezy Brown,
VIBE.com,
25 Feb. 2025
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State of play: DeSantis and Trump have long had a strained relationship.—
Ivana Saric,
Axios,
24 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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There are a couple of superficial parallels to the present day.—
New York Daily News Editorial Board,
New York Daily News,
2 Mar. 2025
-
But her natural effervescence is largely wasted by an execution that’s so painfully superficial the show feels like a parody of itself.—
Nicholas Quah,
Vulture,
27 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Conclave depicts the Catholic church at an inflection point, with warring political factions proving themselves vain, self-serving, and hypocritical in their pursuit of power.—
Randall Colburn,
EW.com,
27 Feb. 2025
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As resident jester at the maverick journalism outlet The Free Press, Nellie Bowles scours the news for the absurd and hypocritical, and then skewers the best of the worst in her column, TGIF.—
Roy Rivenburg,
The Christian Science Monitor,
26 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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What happens next is critical, especially as Sweden is now reportedly threatening its own forced breach of end-to-end encryption.—
Zak Doffman,
Forbes,
27 Feb. 2025
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Defending rights and progress aroused attendees at that January meeting in 2025 as strongly as denouncing forced colonization aroused attendees at the mass meeting 208 years earlier.—
Linn Washington,
The Conversation,
26 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Self-righteous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/self-righteous. Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.
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