holier-than-thou
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈhəʊ.li.ə ðən ˈðaʊ/
ipa: /ˈhoʊ.li.ɚ ðən ˈðaʊ/
rhymes: -aʊ
Forms: form: more holier-than-thou
form: 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).
Senses: examples: text: [T]here are local jealousies and disunities which are not likely to be soothed by the patent fact that companies which most strenuously assert the I-am-holier-than-thou claim daily violate the rules by which they profess to be invariably governed, [...]
ref: [1874 May 21, “The Work of the National Board”, in The Baltimore Underwriter: A Weekly Journal Devoted to the Interests of Insurance in All Its Branches, volume XI, number 21, Baltimore, Md.: Bombaugh & Ransom, […], →OCLC, page 421:
text: Hippolytus is quite insufferable in his endless protestations of pity and purity. One tires of such abnormal goodness and wishes for a little natural depravity. He is a perfect type of the "holier than thou" individual whose secret heart is a very stagnation of egotism, selfishness and disregard for others' feelings.
ref: 1887 November 18, “The Hippolytus of Eur[i]pides”, in The Dartmouth (4th series), volume 9, number 5, Hanover, N.H.: The editors [from Dartmouth College], published 1888, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 107, column 1:
text: His garb is such as any gentleman might wear—a farmer, a thrifty mechanic, a teacher, or a plain business man—a brown slouch hat, any kind of a simple necktie, any kind of a coat except the unctuous holier-than-thou broadcloth with the front full of button holes.
ref: 1888, Fitz-Mac [pseudonym; James P. MacCarthy], “The Rev. Myron W[inslow] Reed”, in Political Portraits, Colorado Springs, Colo.: The Gazette Printing Co., →OCLC, page 94:
text: I don't think the "black is white" campaign of the Republican Party is going to succeed. I think the voters are going to see through this holier-than-thou disguise that our Republican friends are putting on.
ref: 1952 March 29, Harry S. Truman, “Address at the Jefferson–Jackson Day Dinner”, in Harry S. Truman, 1952–53: […] (Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States), Washington, D.C.: Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Service; United States Government Printing Office, published 1966, →OCLC, page 225, column 1:
text: But I can understand the hon. member's sense of sanctimony; he has now been a member of the NDP caucus for a while and the holier-than-thou attitude has been bred into him.
ref: 1980 December 1, Ray Hnatyshyn, “Judges Act: Measure to Increase Salaries of Judges”, in House of Commons Debates, Official Report, First Session—Thirty-second Parliament, 29 Elizabeth II (House of Commons of Canada), volume V, Ottawa: Queen’s Printer for Canada, →OCLC, page 5211, column 2:
text: The Soviet economy is hurting now, and I say that not holier-than-thou, but it is; factually, the Soviet economy is in bad shape.
ref: 1991 July 8, George [Herbert Walker] Bush, “Interview with Foreign Journalists”, in George Bush, 1991 (in Two Books) (Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States), book II, Washington, D.C.: Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Service; United States Government Printing Office, published 1992, →OCLC, page 835, column 2:
text: Whether you see that as belated recognition of a collective shame (if not guilt) or as a "holier than thou" pharisaism, it was certainly made much simpler by the fact that the generation under discussion had started to fade from public life.
ref: 2003, Lothar Höbelt, “The Nazi Question Mark: The ‘Linguistic Turn’ and the ‘Shadows of the Past’”, in Defiant Populist: Jörg Haider and the Politics of Austria (Central European Studies), West Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue University Press, →ISBN, page 121:
text: Everything connected with the care of children no matter how trivial has to be seen to be politically correct. This tends to create a "holier-than-thou" attitude, where if something even hints of being politically incorrect, then no matter how much fun it might be for the children, it will not take place.
ref: 2014 September 30, David Smith, “David’s Guide for What to Look For in a Centre”, in Suffer the Little Children: An Insider’s View of the Workings of Early Childcare Facilities in New Zealand […], [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, pages 94–95:
text: While he may not deserve to be branded a “slimeball,” as Trump did on Sunday, Comey does risk coming across as a disgruntled ex-employee and someone seeking vengeance for his dismissal. He has a highly developed sense of his own morality and sometimes comes across as holier than thou.
ref: 2018 April 16, Stephen Collinson, “Trump now faces Comey’s moral assault”, in CNN:
synonyms: word: airy
word: arrogant
word: authoritarian
word: biggity
word: big-headed
word: blustery
word: boastful
word: bombastic
word: buggish
word: cocky
word: conceited
word: disdainful
word: domineering
word: egotistical
word: entitled
word: flatulent
word: flaunting
word: full of oneself
word: grandiose
word: hankty
word: haught
word: haughty
word: haut
word: high-handed
word: high-hat
word: high and mighty
word: highfalutin
word: hoity-toity
word: holier-than-thou
word: imperious
word: inflated
word: insolent
word: la-di-da
word: ostentatious
word: overbearing
word: overweening
word: pompous
word: presumptuous
word: pretentious
word: priggish
word: puffed up
word: sanctimonious
word: self-important
word: snobbish
word: snooty
word: snotty
word: stout
word: stuck up
word: supercilious
word: thrasonic
word: thrasonical
word: toploftical
word: toplofty
word: tumid
word: turgid
word: uppish
word: uppity
word: uppy
word: upstage
word: vain
glosses: Hypocritically or self-righteously pious; sanctimonious; smugly morally superior.