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.
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Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of self-righteous
Elegant, worldly, and self-righteous Antoinette is a long-time divorcee whose life revolves around her weekly hair appointments and her job as a correctional officer at Rikers Island.
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Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 17 Sep. 2024
Viewer boycotts Remember when all those self-righteous people were going to boycott the NFL because Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem to protest racial inequality and police brutality?
—Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 12 Aug. 2024
The performances sing, too, with the series making use of Portman’s gift for self-righteous sanctimony and Ingram’s ability to sell both disillusionment and swashbuckling heroism as the situation demands it.
—Inkoo Kang, The New Yorker, 2 Aug. 2024
Her self-righteous smirk, withering glare and wide, mischievous grin captured the emotional extremes of adolescence to an extent that words could never quite express.
—Judy Berman, TIME, 14 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for self-righteous 
Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 17 Sep. 2024
Viewer boycotts Remember when all those self-righteous people were going to boycott the NFL because Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem to protest racial inequality and police brutality?
—Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 12 Aug. 2024
The performances sing, too, with the series making use of Portman’s gift for self-righteous sanctimony and Ingram’s ability to sell both disillusionment and swashbuckling heroism as the situation demands it.
—Inkoo Kang, The New Yorker, 2 Aug. 2024
Her self-righteous smirk, withering glare and wide, mischievous grin captured the emotional extremes of adolescence to an extent that words could never quite express.
—Judy Berman, TIME, 14 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for self-righteous
Recent Examples of Synonyms for self-righteous
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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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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Because there are five meaningful ways that honest messaging beats dishonest marketing.Drew Gerber, Forbes, 4 Nov. 2024
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Whereas John Kerry at his convention had struggled to create meaning—no matter how stupid, dishonest, or clichéd—George Bush seemed to be plotting its demise.Yiyun Li, Harper's Magazine, 23 Sep. 2024
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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The lifelong New Yorker explained his decision to pack up for Florida in a 2019 post on the social platform X, citing taxes and his strained relationships with state and local leaders.Elizabeth Crisp, The Hill, 5 Nov. 2024
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In addition, there will need to be some serious operational improvements to remedy the company’s strained relationship with many current and former customers.Kenneth Squire, CNBC, 2 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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This stands in contrast to the often superficial engagements seen on mainstream platforms.Gary Weinstein, Forbes, 4 Nov. 2024
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Although more superficial aspects of his middle-eastern culture of 2,000 years ago contrast sharply with our western-capitalist society, other, deeper aspects of the two eras are eerily similar.Leslie Smith Reeves Faith Matters, arkansasonline.com, 2 Nov. 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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Israeli authorities have caused a forced displacement of Palestinian people in Gaza to an extent that constitutes war crimes and crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said in a report on Thursday.Reuters, NBC News, 14 Nov. 2024
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Abbott avoids this by allowing its characters to simply exist without turning situations into a forced anthropological presentation.Ile-Ife Okantah, Vulture, 6 Nov. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near self-righteous
Cite this Entry
“Self-righteous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/self-righteous. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.
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