Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness.
- n. An act or instance of such falseness.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Dissimulation of one's real character or belief; especially, a false assumption of piety or virtue; a feigning to be better than one is; the action or character of a hypocrite.
- n. Synonyms Pretense, cant, formalism, sanctimoniousness, Pharisaism. See dissemble, dissembler, and deceit.
Wiktionary
- n. applying criticism to others that one does not apply equally to oneself; moral self-contradiction whereby the behavior of one or more people belies their own claimed or implied possession of certain beliefs, standards or virtues.
- n. an instance of either of the above.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The act or practice of a hypocrite; a feigning to be what one is not, or to feel what one does not feel; a dissimulation, or a concealment of one's real character, disposition, or motives; especially, the assuming of false appearance of virtue or religion; a simulation of goodness.
WordNet 3.0
- n. insincerity by virtue of pretending to have qualities or beliefs that you do not really have
- n. an expression of agreement that is not supported by real conviction
Etymologies
- From Middle English ipocrisie, from Old French ypocrisie, from Late Latin hypocrisis, from Ancient Greek ὑπόκρισις (hupokrisis, "answer, stage acting, pretense"), from ὑποκρίνομαι (hupokrinomai, "I reply"), from ὑπό (hupo, "under, equivalent of the modern "hypo-" prefix") + the middle voice of κρίνω (krinō, "I separate, judge, decide"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English ipocrisie, from Old French, from Late Latin hypocrisis, play-acting, pretense, from Greek hupokrisis, from hupokrīnesthai, to play a part, pretend : hupo-, hypo- + krīnesthai, to explain, middle voice of krīnein, to decide, judge; see krei- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I knew not, nor cared, in my joy at having escaped from such an abode of hypocrisy as my parents 'house -- for of all the vices which can disgrace humanity, I regard _hypocrisy_ as the most detestable.”
“But watching them writhe in hypocrisy is usually entertaining.”
“The only good thing from this exercise in hypocrisy is the fact that they have now confirmed the report on CIA foreign prisons.”
Think Progress » Fox News: “Why All The Fuss About Torturing People?”
“When a politician uses the word hypocrisy I instantly roll my eyes.”
“On top of being mostrously stupid, your hypocrisy is altogether boundless.”
“The word hypocrisy is used so much in describing republican behavior that is either is going to become meaningless or the dictionary will refer to it as a synonym for republican.”
“No wonder we are hated around the world ... the hypocrisy is astounding and the bigotry is numbing. disgusted”
“I know you might have been too young to know this, but the hypocrisy is his.”
“U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently noted what she called the hypocrisy of the Iranian government.”
Voice of America: Demand for Change in Middle East Not Lost on Opposition in Iran
“But in an angry email to the Associated Press on Monday evening, the two-time All-Pro lashed out at what he called the "hypocrisy" of his situation.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘hypocrisy’.
-
This is not a list
you know that thing where the Eskimos have 50 words for snow?
little white lie, big lie, the Big Lie, economical with t..., muddy the waters, fabrication, deception, lies, damned lies..., façade, slander, omission, web of lies and 159 more...
-
POL - scandalous (single words only)
cadre, bribery, bashing, backhander, clash, crony, coercion, coterie, chicanery, baksheesh, acolyte, backlash and 256 more...
-
POL - scandalous (words and collocati...
Words and collocations associated with political scandal
blow the whistle, boo, cronyism and rigging, democratic deficit, denigrate, dirty linen, fiasco, finger pointing a..., graft, hidden account, hush money, illicit financing... and 578 more...
-
The weird, the wonderful and the plai...
Loved for their ingenuity, an exact description, or simply for the pure joy of it.
acidulous, aprosdoketon, higgledy-piggledy, lexicographical, ninja, audacious, somnabulist, shivaree, amorphous, quidnunc, glib, melancholy and 353 more...
-
EN-HU - important words for a HU inte...
Words only (I left out the expressions) from Geza Kerenyi's EN-HU interpreters' dictionary. Most of them pose some difficulty when interpreted between HU and EN in either or both directions.
abalone, abrasive, abstractionist, abstruse, abysmal, academia, accessibility, accessible, acclimate, accolade, accompanist, achiever and 1469 more...
-
Spellings
sandbox, hypocrisy, medicine, torture, succinct, Martyr, hypocrite =saying..., on-cue as if plan..., egregious, smitten by god, revel =Get great ..., disingenuous and 1 more...
-
Snooty
Words that think way too much of themselves
notoriety, posh, victorian, mien, terrace, veritable, ambivalent, paradox, hypocrisy, damned, caprice, renaissance and 8 more...
-
big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
-
ChortleGiggleSnort
Significant Words- Guiding you on your path to Snazzibility
flimsy, feeble, ranting, ramble, narky, snazzy, yoghurt, bulbous, pustule, globulous, geranium, megalomaniac and 521 more...
-
JesusIsLord's Words
debauchery, plethora, wiki, numinous, wormwood, scribe, gelded, mithridate, orthogonal, jaculiferous, jaculate, jactitation and 415 more...
-
GRE verbal 1
GRE
hypocrisy, wizened, arcane, nascent, trifling, malaise, quibble, derogatory, inept, recant, splenetic, insouciance and 21 more...
-
dyy's Words
ambivalence, irony, double-edged sword, paradox, struggle, plunge, buoy, pigeon-hole, ultimately, status quo, fuel, undermine and 230 more...
-
strieale's Words
scientism, chronological, christophobia, subsurface, high culture, jeffersonian demo..., jacksonian democracy, incommensurable, rebuttal, discerning, disparate, anodyne and 156 more...
-
my_GRE_2013
read list
veracity, siphon, refute, chasm, mar, abyss, squeamish, fastidious, meticulous, crescendo, intuitive, peril and 13 more...
-
Spelling Bee list 2011
Abalone, ablution, absolution, aboriginally, abstemious, academician, acclamation, accommodation, acculturation, acetic, acetone, acme and 590 more...
-
Nick Yeow’s Words
Recently learned words that I like.
pharmaceutical, bowdlerise, connoisseur, cognoscenti, ostracise, aforementioned, antepenultimate, concatenate, extraterrestrial, psychiatrist, firmament, gastronomical and 100 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for hypocrisy.
Telofy "Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue." -- Francois de La Rochefoucauld Sep 24, 2008
uselessness I don't know who Jan Cox is, but this quote reminds me of Douglas Adams. Aug 31, 2007
oroboros It is reported that in the galaxy just north of here the young people grew so vicious
and vociferous in their denunciation of the previous generation as being hypocrites
that the elders held a general meeting after which this statement was issued:
“All hypocrisy on our world is the result of becoming over thirty years of age,
and we suggest that the younger generation either come up with a cure for aging,
or else start making themselves bullet-proof now.�?
(A reminder that these intergalactic stories can at times be so unreliable as to not rule out
the possibility that this actually occurred in some earthling’s nervous-system.)
--Jan Cox Aug 31, 2007