Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Exhibiting an attitude of superior virtue; self-righteously pious.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective being excessively or hypocritically pious while condemning others as being less virtuous than oneself.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
sanctimonious ,self-righteously , orhypocritically pious
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective excessively or hypocritically pious
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word holier-than-thou.
Examples
-
You really should do something about this holier-than-thou iconoclasm.
-
You really should do something about this holier-than-thou iconoclasm.
-
You really should do something about this holier-than-thou iconoclasm.
The Anglican Church of Canada: filthy capitalist « Anglican Samizdat 2010
-
You really should do something about this holier-than-thou iconoclasm.
For a Lent study, a Quebec Anglican Church invites imam to speak about Islam « Anglican Samizdat 2010
-
You really should do something about this holier-than-thou iconoclasm.
Another unrealistic proposal from Ephraim Radner « Anglican Samizdat 2010
-
But I get frustrated at the holier-than-thou attitude some of the anti-paper crowd tends to take, as if those of us who are sticking to paper are wantonly killing trees with every book with purchase in hard copy.
Books, Ebooks and the Environment « Tales from the Reading Room 2010
-
So don't give me this high and mighty, holier-than-thou attitude about the special interests flooding the political marketplace.
Michael Steele: 'I Don't Know That' Anonymous Donors Are A Problem (VIDEO) The Huffington Post News Team 2010
-
These holier-than-thou guardians of free speech are practically creaming with self-righteous glee as they publicly lynch this young woman for saying something dreadfully stupid that she undoubtedly deeply regrets.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Judging a Person Based on a Single Forwarded Personal E-Mail 2010
-
When defining tourism as 'eco' or 'sustainable' or 'responsible' practitioners often envelop themselves in a holier-than-thou attitude, but it doesn't have to be this way.
-
You really should do something about this holier-than-thou iconoclasm.
Homosexuality a major cause of priestly paedophilia in the church « Anglican Samizdat 2010
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.