Word of the Day

: November 13, 2006

sanctimonious

adjective sank-tuh-MOE-nee-us

What It Means

: hypocritically pious or devout

sanctimonious in Context

My sanctimonious aunt always warns us about the evils of drinking and gambling, but according to my mother, she did those things herself when she was young.

Did You Know?

There's nothing sacred about "sanctimonious"-at least not any more. But in the early 1600s, the English adjective was still sometimes used to describe someone truly holy or pious (a sense that recalls the meaning of the word's Latin parent, "sanctimonia"). Shakespeare used both the "holy" and "holier-than-thou" senses in his work, referring in The Tempest to the "sanctimonious" (that is, "holy") ceremonies of marriage, and in Measure for Measure to describe "the sanctimonious pirate that went to sea with the Ten Commandments but scraped one out of the table." (Apparently, the pirate found the restriction on stealing a bit too inconvenient.)