Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Hypocritically benevolent; sanctimonious.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Characteristic of or resembling Pecksniff, one of the characters in Dickens's “Martin Chuzzlewit,” characterized by an ostentatious hypocritical display of benevolence or high principle.
Etymologies
- After Seth Pecksniff, a character in Martin Chuzzlewit, a novel by Charles Dickens. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Pecksniffian," for example, was used by Bill O'Reilly a few times, and his use caused the word to spike in the daily list of words that are looked up online.”
“Until I see you even once denounce the shrieky eliminationism that is the stock-in-trade of your political coreligionists -- some examples are compiled here, and there are several more recent ones -- I, for one, can do without your Pecksniffian faux-outrage about a throwaway and self-contradictory Twitter comment.”
“Pecksniffian pretentious pugnacious quixotic sardoodledom sputum subpoena vanity sizing w00t”
“Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Pretentious Pecksniffian Cruft:”
“The only good word of the lot is Pecksniffian, though why it's on a list of words for 2007, and not 1857, is beyond me.”
“One could, then, by the same token say that Pecksniffian politicians think that their success in one area -- politics -- confers on them authority in all areas, most notably, in this connection, the immorality of Hollywood and the effrontery of its denizens in thinking that they can tell politicians what to think!”
“My insistence on my own freedom to choose has led to expulsion from one blogsite, hysterical comments about Zyklon-B, and a Pecksniffian reference to the anniversary of 9/11 versus that of the Montreal Massacre.”
“And it's this kind of thing that makes me want to see him win the nomination so he can make that Pecksniffian twit Peggy Noonan choke on her Pinot Grigio when he throws a hard, high fastball right between John McCain or Mitt Romney's eyes.”
“This hostility toward mixed-age marriages is nothing more than Pecksniffian cases of envy, jealousy, fear and avarice.”
The Hypocrisy of Monogamy: Divorce and Adultery Versus Polygamy
“I think Runge should share the blame and whether or not the entire thing was a case of Pecksniffian, Judgmentalism or a trap, racially motivated mean spirited, vengeance, or merely a case of stupidity, I do not know.”
Is It Bush's Fault That Racists In Baseball Are Flooding Politics In America, Or Is It Visa Versa?
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘Pecksniffian’.
-
Silly-sounding words
Serious words that sound silly when you say them
philosophunculist, argy-bargy, Labradoodle, shittah, shittim, floccinaucinihili..., succedaneum, honorificabilitud..., fag-ma-fuff, buffarilla, yazzihamper, mammothrept and 140 more...
-
Artfully Eponymous Adjectives
Adjectives, such as quixotic, whose root is the name of an artist, poet, writer, or literary character.
For additional eponyms see the lists Namesakes and Lend Me Your Name. I've liste...Thoreauvian, Gradgrindian, Blytonesque, Rabelaisian, Emersonian, Byronic, Dickensian, Lovecraftian, Miltonian, Byronian, Byronesque, Flaubertian and 228 more...
-
bintalshamsa's list
My Favorite Words
weltschmerz, perspicacity, idée fixe, invigilator, salubrious, tchotchke, ex nihilo, invidious, malapropism, naïve, sardonic, elide and 1402 more...
-
What the Dickens!
Words and phrases coined or made popular by Charles Dickens.
Sources: http://thewordmaven.wordpress.com...Scrooge, Pecksniffian, Pickwickian, Faginesque, Bumble, Dolly Varden, Uriah Heap, Dickensian, micawber, podsnappery, A-1, ain’t and 18 more...
-
Merriam Webster 2007 Word of the Year...
Won by w00t
charlatan, hypocrite, Pecksniffian, apathetic, sardoodledom, blamestorm, quixotic, conundrum, facebook, w00t
Tweets
Looking for tweets for Pecksniffian.
Comments
No comments yet...
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.