SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
hypocritical
adjective
Acting contrary to professed beliefs while presenting oneself as principled.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Contradicting professed principles
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topSelf-righteous describes an attitude and need not prove hypocrisy; pharisaical is a strongly critical term.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See hypocritical in use
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.
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