of, relating to, or characteristic of the Pharisees or Pharisaism
2. (often not capital)
righteously hypocritical
Derived forms
Pharisaically (ˌPhariˈsaically)
adverb
Pharisaicalness (ˌPhariˈsaicalness)
noun
Pharisaic in American English
(ˌfærəˈseɪɪk)
adjective
1.
of the Pharisees
2. [p-]
emphasizing or observing the letter but not the spirit of religious law; self-righteous; sanctimonious
3. [p-]
pretending to be highly moral or virtuous without actually being so; hypocritical
: also ˌphariˈsaical
Derived forms
pharisaically (ˌphariˈsaically)
adverb
Word origin
LL(Ec) Pharisaicus < Gr(Ec) pharisaïkos < pharisaios: see Pharisee; (sense 2) from the notion promulgated in the N.T. that Pharisees were generallyso characterized