holier-than-thou

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj

Hypocritically or self-righteously pious; sanctimonious; smugly morally superior.

Pronunciation

/ˈhəʊ.li.ə ðən ˈðaʊ/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-holier-than-thou.wav /ˈhoʊ.li.ɚ ðən ˈðaʊ/ En-us-holier-than-thou.mp3

Word forms

holier-than-thou more holier-than-thou most holier-than-thou

Etymology

From Isaiah 65:5 in the Bible (King James Version; spelling modernized): “Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou”; from Biblical Hebrew קְדַשְׁתִּיךָ (qəḏaštîḵā).

Synonyms

airy arrogant chesty authoritarian biggity big-headed blustery boastful bombastic buggish cocky conceited disdainful domineering egotistical entitled flatulent flaunting full of oneself glorious grandiose hankty haught haughty haut high-handed high-hat high and mighty highfalutin hoity-toity holier-than-thou hubristic hubristical imperious inflated insolent la-di-da orgulous ostentatious overbearing overweening pompous presumptuous pretentious priggish puffed up sanctimonious self-important snobbish snooty snotty stout stuck up supercilious thrasonic thrasonical toploftical toplofty tumid turgid

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.

Back to search All on H Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary