self-righteous
/ˌsɛlfˈrʌɪtʃəs
/adjective
Having or characterized by a certainty, especially an unfounded one, that one is totally correct or morally superior: self-righteous indignation and complacency...
- This sort of smug, self-righteous moralising is exactly what the original American student was speaking out against.
- The tone is superior and self-righteous, but there is some truth to what Wills was saying.
- What's with all this self-righteous indignation about reality television?
Synonyms
sanctimonious, holier-than-thou, self-satisfied, smug, priggish, complacent, too good to be true, pious, pietistic, moralizing, unctuous, superior, mealy-mouthed, hypocritical
informal goody-goody
rare Pharisaic, Pharisaical, Tartuffian
Derivatives
self-righteously
/ adverb ...- I found someone who didn't already know about the article and the tumult it had aroused and testified self-righteously for a quarter of an hour.
- In fact, maybe if you've been self-righteously indignant on both sides of an issue, you should conclude that it's not an issue about which self-righteous indignation is called for.
- This species can be identified on the first day of class as the person who, five minutes into the start of the class, self-righteously points out the flaws in the professor's marking scheme.
- aesthetic distance
- aesthetician
- aestheticisation
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- aestheticization
- aestheticize
- aesthetic-looking
- Aesthetic Movement
- aesthetics
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- aestival
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- aestivo-autumnal
- aestuous
- aesymnetic
- a.e.t.
- aet.
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- aetatis
- aether