Meaning & use
self-righteous
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Meaning
adjectivecomparabledisapproving
Sure that you are morally better than other people and quick to show it in a smug way.
Grammar: Can come before a noun or after be: a self-righteous speech, he sounded self-righteous.
Patterns
- self-righteous about something
He gave a self-righteous lecture about recycling while driving a huge car.
She was so self-righteous about her diet that nobody wanted to eat with her.
Their self-righteous tone made the criticism hard to accept.
Word forms
| comparative | more self-righteous |
|---|---|
| superlative | most self-righteous |
Common combinations
- a self-righteous tone
- His self-righteous tone annoyed the whole team.
- self-righteous indignation
- She spoke with self-righteous indignation about the late payment.
- smug and self-righteous
- The article was smug and self-righteous.
- a self-righteous lecture
- I didn't need a self-righteous lecture about punctuality.
- sound self-righteous
- I don't want to sound self-righteous, but I did warn you.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sanctimonious
- Sanctimonious is stronger and suggests a hypocritical show of moral virtue, particularly in religion-flavored speech.
- holier-than-thou
- Holier-than-thou is a more informal and vivid way to say the same thing.
- smug
- Smug means pleased with oneself about any achievement, without necessarily judging others morally.
- priggish
- Priggish describes someone overly proper and easily shocked, rather than someone loudly sure they are right.
Opposites
Word family
- self-righteously adverb
- in a smugly moral way
- self-righteousness noun
- the quality of being smugly sure of one's own virtue
- righteous adjective
- morally right or justified
Commonly confused: self-righteous or righteous?
self-righteous vs righteous
Righteous can be a plain compliment for moral behavior, while self-righteous is always an insult.
Practice
A coworker constantly tells everyone how much more ethical he is than they are. Which word fits him best?
Choose one answer.
Self-righteous describes someone smugly sure of their own moral superiority. Generous and sympathetic are positive and shy does not involve judging others.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “self-righteous”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.