as in moralistic
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Recent Examples of pharisaical
Lists are no substitute for criticism, but those who take them as inimical to criticism are pharisaical.
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Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 6 Dec. 2022
David and Samuel explore the U.S. energy sector and evaluate what the future holds in an ESG landscape that has done its very best to bring economic incoherence to its pharisaical agenda.
—Andrew Stuttaford, National Review, 16 Jan. 2022
Yet Marlin makes clear that excommunication was never a real threat but rather one that Cuomo shrewdly used to turn himself into a victim of pharisaical bishops.
—Vincent J. Cannato, National Review, 7 Nov. 2020
Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 6 Dec. 2022
David and Samuel explore the U.S. energy sector and evaluate what the future holds in an ESG landscape that has done its very best to bring economic incoherence to its pharisaical agenda.
—Andrew Stuttaford, National Review, 16 Jan. 2022
Yet Marlin makes clear that excommunication was never a real threat but rather one that Cuomo shrewdly used to turn himself into a victim of pharisaical bishops.
—Vincent J. Cannato, National Review, 7 Nov. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pharisaical
Adjective
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As if predicting this kind of encounter, Kyunghee is moralistic about Sunja’s decision to let Mozasu work in what is seen as an ignoble business, the haunt of gangsters and ne’er-do-wellers.Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 11 Oct. 2024
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These are not virtues in a moralistic sense but, rather, habits of excellence inspired by definitions from ancient philosophy.Sarah Elk, Forbes, 10 Oct. 2024
Adjective
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Trolls claim to be puncturing pieties, saving the sanctimonious from themselves.Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 23 Oct. 2024
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Fiennes is backed by a stellar supporting cast that, in addition to Tucci's firebrand Bellini, included John Lithgow as a sanctimonious curate and Carlos Diehz as Cardinal Benitez, intriguing and comforting in his calm stillness.Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 2 Sep. 2024
Adjective
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Paxton, pious to the end, responds by talking about the Great Prayer Experiment, a (very real) series of studies that sought to test whether prayer has any tangible healing impact — and conclusively found there to be not.Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 8 Nov. 2024
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Like his father, the junior Winthrop was a pious Christian.Ed Simon, TIME, 31 Oct. 2024
Adjective
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Some even pointed to an interview Yang recently conducted with the pop star for Interview magazine, claiming that his comments seemed hypocritical in hindsight given the nature of his SNL performance.Stephen Daw, Billboard, 30 Sep. 2024
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Movie masturbation scenes also highlight our culture’s hypocritical double standard.Caroline Madden, Vulture, 8 July 2024
Adjective
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Dillahunt will play modern cowboy William Macon, a self-righteous, conspiracy-minded man who masks his ruthless ambition behind a charming and calculated facade.Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 1 Nov. 2024
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The Bartlet staff’s righteous (and self-righteous) elocution might seem — to the cynical — sentimental, treacly, smarmy, or just eye-roll-inducingly dumb.Lizzie Logan, Vulture, 23 Sep. 2024
Adjective
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In scenes together, Cooke’s arch line deliveries and holier-than-thou smirks spark against D’Arcy’s regal defensiveness and cool anger.Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 16 June 2024
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Annelle-Inspired Picks The spiritual turnaround of the beauty shop’s new recruit guided our picks for her holier-than-thou shelves.Betsy Cribb Watson, Southern Living, 30 Sep. 2024
Adjective
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Others offered themselves as mediators in the sincere (or insincere) hope of minimizing the war’s direct and ancillary costs or even of ending it altogether.Michael Kimmage, Foreign Affairs, 7 Nov. 2024
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That’s not to say there’s no room for course-correction — Karen’s frenemy Gizelle Bryant suddenly learning how to apologize this season is a good example — but that a sudden personality transplant reads as insincere.Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 5 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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The 31-year-old sherry bomb explodes in torrents of coconut and pineapple fruit before an unctuous, lingering finish of tobacco smoke.Brad Japhe, Forbes, 14 Oct. 2024
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Needs a few years to better harmonize into a more unctuous delight.Tom Mullen, Forbes, 29 Sep. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near pharisaical
Cite this Entry
“Pharisaical.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pharisaical. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.
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