Standard Lemma guide

holier-than-thou

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈhəʊ.li.ə ðən ˈðaʊ/
  • Received-Pronunciation: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈhoʊ.li.ɚ ðən ˈðaʊ/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -aʊ

1

adj

Meaning 1

Hypocritically or self-righteously pious; sanctimonious; smugly morally superior.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: derogatory

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: airy, arrogant, chesty, authoritarian, biggity, big-headed, blustery, boastful, lordly, bombastic, buggish, cocky, conceited, disdainful, domineering, egotistical, entitled, flatulent, flaunting, full of oneself, glorious, grandiose, hankty, haught, haughty, haut, high-handed, high-hat, high and mighty, highfalutin, hoity-toity, holier-than-thou, hubristic, hubristical, imperious, inflated, insolent, la-di-da, orgulous, ostentatious, overbearing, overweening, pompous, presumptuous, pretentious, priggish, puffed up, sanctimonious, self-important, snobbish, snooty, snotty, stout, stuck up, supercilious, thrasonic, thrasonical, toploftical, toplofty, tumid, turgid, uppish, uppity, uppy, upstage, vain

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

excessively or hypocritically pious

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a sickening sanctimonious smile

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: pietistic, pietistical, pharisaic, pharisaical, sanctimonious, self-righteous

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Isaiah 65:5 in the Bible (King James Version; spelling modernized): “Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou”; from Biblical Hebrew קְדַשְׁתִּיךָ (qəḏaštîḵā).

Across languages

Translations

19 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Asturian: santeru — hypocritically or self-righteously pious
  • Asturian: musarañu — hypocritically or self-righteously pious
  • Asturian: pamplineru — hypocritically or self-righteously pious
  • Esperanto: bigota — hypocritically or self-righteously pious
  • Finnish: hurskasteleva — hypocritically or self-righteously pious
  • French: benoît — hypocritically or self-righteously pious
  • French: bigot — hypocritically or self-righteously pious
  • Hungarian: pápább a pápánál — hypocritically or self-righteously pious
  • Hungarian: pápábbak a pápánál — hypocritically or self-righteously pious
  • Hungarian: szenteskedő — hypocritically or self-righteously pious
  • Polish: świętojebliwy — hypocritically or self-righteously pious
  • Polish: świętoszkowaty — hypocritically or self-righteously pious
  • Portuguese: santo do pau oco — hypocritically or self-righteously pious
  • Russian: лицемерный (licemernyj) — hypocritically or self-righteously pious
  • Russian: благочестиво-лицемерный (blagočestivo-licemernyj) — hypocritically or self-righteously pious
  • Russian: самодовольный (samodovolʹnyj) — hypocritically or self-righteously pious
  • Spanish: santurrón — hypocritically or self-righteously pious
  • Spanish: gazmoño — hypocritically or self-righteously pious
  • Swedish: gudsnådelig — hypocritically or self-righteously pious