SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
hypocrisy
noun
Claiming principles or standards that one's own behavior contradicts.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Pretense of virtue
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topHypocrisy involves a gap between professed standards and conduct; inconsistency alone need not involve pretense.
RELATED FORMS, ONE FEATURED ENTRY
The hypocritical family
hypocrisy is grouped under hypocritical in the main dictionaries. This form keeps its meaning and previous study record.
hypocriticaladjective
Acting contrary to professed beliefs while presenting oneself as principled.
Contradicting professed principles
Closest synonyms
Related expressions
It was hypocritical to demand punctuality while arriving late to every meeting.
A club officer continued to profess support for open participation while reserving every desirable workshop place for his friends. Members called the conduct hypocritical because he presented himself as a defender of the principle he was disregarding.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See hypocrisy in use
He recognized the hypocrisy of condemning delays while often arriving late.
The workshop's chair objected to the coordinator's hypocrisy: he had repeatedly praised transparency while concealing the conflicting promises.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license