SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
sententious
adjective
Expressing compact statements of supposed wisdom, often with excessive moralizing.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Moralizing in compact sayings
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topSententious often criticizes self-important moral lessons. Pithy and aphoristic can instead praise concise expression of a useful idea.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See sententious in use
The sententious speech offered lofty maxims instead of practical help.
Tessa added irreverence when a character used the committee's ceremonial stamp as a paperweight, treating a solemn symbol casually. Another character adopted a moralistic tone, judging every misplaced comma as evidence of a defective character. His sententious refrain, 'Order in ink is order in the soul,' compressed that moralizing into a polished little maxim.
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