Meaning & use
righteous
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Meanings
adjectivecomparableformal
Living or acting in a way that is morally good, honest and in line with a strong sense of right and wrong.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after be: a righteous person; he was righteous.
Patterns
- a righteous person
- a righteous cause
The villagers remembered him as a righteous man who always helped others.
She fought for a righteous cause and never gave up.
The story praises the righteous and punishes the cruel.
adjectivebefore a noun
Strongly and fairly angry because something unjust has happened.
Grammar: Used before nouns such as anger or indignation to show the feeling is justified.
Patterns
- righteous anger
- righteous indignation
He felt righteous anger when he saw the workers being cheated.
Her righteous indignation was understandable.
The crowd was filled with righteous fury at the decision.
adjectivecomparableslangold-fashionedAmericanapproving
Excellent or very good; a use from American slang that is now dated.
Grammar: Informal and dated; it can describe music, a wave or an idea.
That was a righteous guitar solo.
The surfers waited for a righteous wave.
He told everyone it was a righteous party.
Word forms
| comparative | more righteous |
|---|---|
| superlative | most righteous |
Common combinations
- righteous anger
- Righteous anger drove her to write a letter of complaint.
- righteous indignation
- He spoke with righteous indignation about the unfair fines.
- righteous path
- She tried to walk the righteous path all her life.
- righteous cause
- They gave their time to a righteous cause.
- self-righteous
- His self-righteous tone annoyed everyone.
Synonyms and how they differ
- virtuous
- Virtuous stresses good character and habits, while righteous stresses acting on firm moral principles.
- upright
- Upright means honest and dependable in everyday conduct, and is less religious in tone than righteous.
- just
- Just describes fairness in judgment, while righteous describes a strong sense of moral duty.
- justified
- Justified means having good reason; righteous adds a strong moral or religious tone.
Opposites
Word family
- righteousness noun
- the quality of being morally right
- righteously adverb
- in a morally right way
- self-righteous adjective
- smugly sure that you are morally superior
- unrighteous adjective
- not morally good
Commonly confused: righteous or self-righteous?
righteous vs self-righteous
Self-righteous is a criticism, meaning smug about your own moral goodness. Righteous is generally a compliment unless the context says otherwise.
Practice
His ___ anger at the unfair treatment of the workers was shared by many.
Choose one answer.
Righteous anger means anger that is morally justified. Rightful describes a legal or fair claim, and right does not collocate with anger in this meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “righteous”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.