Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness.
- noun An act or instance of such falseness.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Dissimulation of one's real character or belief; especially, a false assumption of piety or virtue; a feigning to be better than one is; the action or character of a hypocrite.
- noun Synonyms Pretense, cant, formalism, sanctimoniousness, Pharisaism. See dissemble, dissembler, and deceit.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The act or practice of a hypocrite; a feigning to be what one is not, or to feel what one does not feel; a dissimulation, or a concealment of one's real character, disposition, or motives; especially, the assuming of false appearance of virtue or religion; a simulation of goodness.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun applying criticism to others that one does not apply equally to oneself;
moral self-contradiction whereby the behavior of one or more peoplebelies their own claimed or implied possession of certainbeliefs ,standards orvirtues . - noun an instance of either of the above.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun insincerity by virtue of pretending to have qualities or beliefs that you do not really have
- noun an expression of agreement that is not supported by real conviction
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word hypocrisy.
Examples
-
I knew not, nor cared, in my joy at having escaped from such an abode of hypocrisy as my parents 'house -- for of all the vices which can disgrace humanity, I regard _hypocrisy_ as the most detestable.
City Crimes or Life in New York and Boston George Thompson
-
But watching them writhe in hypocrisy is usually entertaining.
-
The only good thing from this exercise in hypocrisy is the fact that they have now confirmed the report on CIA foreign prisons.
Think Progress » Fox News: “Why All The Fuss About Torturing People?” 2005
-
When a politician uses the word hypocrisy I instantly roll my eyes.
Top News Digg 2012
-
No wonder we are hated around the world ... the hypocrisy is astounding and the bigotry is numbing. disgusted
-
I know you might have been too young to know this, but the hypocrisy is his.
-
On top of being mostrously stupid, your hypocrisy is altogether boundless.
-
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently noted what she called the hypocrisy of the Iranian government.
Demand for Change in Middle East Not Lost on Opposition in Iran 2011
-
The word hypocrisy is used so much in describing republican behavior that is either is going to become meaningless or the dictionary will refer to it as a synonym for republican.
-
The word hypocrisy is used so much in describing republican behavior that is either is going to become meaningless or the dictionary will refer to it as a synonym for republican.
oroboros commented on the word hypocrisy
It is reported that in the galaxy just north of here the young people grew so vicious
and vociferous in their denunciation of the previous generation as being hypocrites
that the elders held a general meeting after which this statement was issued:
“All hypocrisy on our world is the result of becoming over thirty years of age,
and we suggest that the younger generation either come up with a cure for aging,
or else start making themselves bullet-proof now.�?
(A reminder that these intergalactic stories can at times be so unreliable as to not rule out
the possibility that this actually occurred in some earthling’s nervous-system.)
--Jan Cox
August 31, 2007
uselessness commented on the word hypocrisy
I don't know who Jan Cox is, but this quote reminds me of Douglas Adams.
August 31, 2007
Telofy commented on the word hypocrisy
"Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue." -- Francois de La Rochefoucauld
September 25, 2008