"holier-than-thou" meaning in English

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      "name": "der"
    }
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  "etymology_text": "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).",
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  "hyphenation": [
    "ho‧li‧er-than-thou"
  ],
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
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          "ref": "[1874 May 21, “The Work of the National Board”, in The Baltimore Underwriter: A Weekly Journal Devoted to the Interests of Insurance in All Its Branches, volume XI, number 21, Baltimore, Md.: Bombaugh & Ransom, […], →OCLC, page 421:",
          "text": "[T]here are local jealousies and disunities which are not likely to be soothed by the patent fact that companies which most strenuously assert the I-am-holier-than-thou claim daily violate the rules by which they profess to be invariably governed, [...]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1887 November 18, “The Hippolytus of Eur[i]pides”, in The Dartmouth (4th series), volume 9, number 5, Hanover, N.H.: The editors [from Dartmouth College], published 1888, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 107, column 1:",
          "text": "Hippolytus is quite insufferable in his endless protestations of pity and purity. One tires of such abnormal goodness and wishes for a little natural depravity. He is a perfect type of the \"holier than thou\" individual whose secret heart is a very stagnation of egotism, selfishness and disregard for others' feelings.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1888, Fitz-Mac [pseudonym; James P. MacCarthy], “The Rev. Myron W[inslow] Reed”, in Political Portraits, Colorado Springs, Colo.: The Gazette Printing Co., →OCLC, page 94:",
          "text": "His garb is such as any gentleman might wear—a farmer, a thrifty mechanic, a teacher, or a plain business man—a brown slouch hat, any kind of a simple necktie, any kind of a coat except the unctuous holier-than-thou broadcloth with the front full of button holes.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1952 March 29, Harry S. Truman, “Address at the Jefferson–Jackson Day Dinner”, in Harry S. Truman, 1952–53: […] (Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States), Washington, D.C.: Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Service; United States Government Printing Office, published 1966, →OCLC, page 225, column 1:",
          "text": "I don't think the \"black is white\" campaign of the Republican Party is going to succeed. I think the voters are going to see through this holier-than-thou disguise that our Republican friends are putting on.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1980 December 1, Ray Hnatyshyn, “Judges Act: Measure to Increase Salaries of Judges”, in House of Commons Debates, Official Report, First Session—Thirty-second Parliament, 29 Elizabeth II (House of Commons of Canada), volume V, Ottawa: Queen’s Printer for Canada, →OCLC, page 5211, column 2:",
          "text": "But I can understand the hon. member's sense of sanctimony; he has now been a member of the NDP caucus for a while and the holier-than-thou attitude has been bred into him.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1991 July 8, George [Herbert Walker] Bush, “Interview with Foreign Journalists”, in George Bush, 1991 (in Two Books) (Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States), book II, Washington, D.C.: Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Service; United States Government Printing Office, published 1992, →OCLC, page 835, column 2:",
          "text": "The Soviet economy is hurting now, and I say that not holier-than-thou, but it is; factually, the Soviet economy is in bad shape.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2003, Lothar Höbelt, “The Nazi Question Mark: The ‘Linguistic Turn’ and the ‘Shadows of the Past’”, in Defiant Populist: Jörg Haider and the Politics of Austria (Central European Studies), West Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue University Press, →ISBN, page 121:",
          "text": "Whether you see that as belated recognition of a collective shame (if not guilt) or as a \"holier than thou\" pharisaism, it was certainly made much simpler by the fact that the generation under discussion had started to fade from public life.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014 September 30, David Smith, “David’s Guide for What to Look For in a Centre”, in Suffer the Little Children: An Insider’s View of the Workings of Early Childcare Facilities in New Zealand […], [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, pages 94–95:",
          "text": "Everything connected with the care of children no matter how trivial has to be seen to be politically correct. This tends to create a \"holier-than-thou\" attitude, where if something even hints of being politically incorrect, then no matter how much fun it might be for the children, it will not take place.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Hypocritically or self-righteously pious; sanctimonious."
      ],
      "id": "en-holier-than-thou-en-adj-xP2~nFXF",
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
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        [
          "Hypocritically",
          "hypocritically"
        ],
        [
          "self-righteously",
          "self-righteously"
        ],
        [
          "pious",
          "pious"
        ],
        [
          "sanctimonious",
          "sanctimonious"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(derogatory) Hypocritically or self-righteously pious; sanctimonious."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "arrogant"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "derogatory"
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      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "ast",
          "lang": "Asturian",
          "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
          "word": "santeru"
        },
        {
          "code": "ast",
          "lang": "Asturian",
          "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
          "word": "musarañu"
        },
        {
          "code": "ast",
          "lang": "Asturian",
          "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
          "word": "pamplineru"
        },
        {
          "code": "eo",
          "lang": "Esperanto",
          "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
          "word": "bigota"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
          "word": "hurskasteleva"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
          "word": "benoît"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
          "word": "bigot"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
          "tags": [
            "singular"
          ],
          "word": "pápább a pápánál"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
          "tags": [
            "plural"
          ],
          "word": "pápábbak a pápánál"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
          "word": "szenteskedő"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
          "tags": [
            "derogatory",
            "vulgar"
          ],
          "word": "świętojebliwy"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
          "word": "świętoszkowaty"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
          "word": "santo do pau oco"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "licemernyj",
          "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
          "word": "лицемерный"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "blagočestivo-licemernyj",
          "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
          "word": "благочестиво-лицемерный"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "samodovolʹnyj",
          "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
          "word": "самодовольный"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
          "word": "santurrón"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
          "word": "gazmoño"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
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    {
      "rhymes": "-aʊ"
    }
  ],
  "word": "holier-than-thou"
}

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        "3": "קְדַשְׁתִּיךָ",
        "tr": "qəḏaštîḵā"
      },
      "expansion": "Biblical Hebrew קְדַשְׁתִּיךָ (qəḏaštîḵā)",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "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).",
  "forms": [
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      "form": "more holier-than-thou",
      "tags": [
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    {
      "form": "most holier-than-thou",
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        "superlative"
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    "ho‧li‧er-than-thou"
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        "Rhymes:English/aʊ",
        "Rhymes:English/aʊ/5 syllables",
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        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with French translations",
        "Terms with Hungarian translations",
        "Terms with Polish translations",
        "Terms with Portuguese translations",
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          "ref": "[1874 May 21, “The Work of the National Board”, in The Baltimore Underwriter: A Weekly Journal Devoted to the Interests of Insurance in All Its Branches, volume XI, number 21, Baltimore, Md.: Bombaugh & Ransom, […], →OCLC, page 421:",
          "text": "[T]here are local jealousies and disunities which are not likely to be soothed by the patent fact that companies which most strenuously assert the I-am-holier-than-thou claim daily violate the rules by which they profess to be invariably governed, [...]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1887 November 18, “The Hippolytus of Eur[i]pides”, in The Dartmouth (4th series), volume 9, number 5, Hanover, N.H.: The editors [from Dartmouth College], published 1888, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 107, column 1:",
          "text": "Hippolytus is quite insufferable in his endless protestations of pity and purity. One tires of such abnormal goodness and wishes for a little natural depravity. He is a perfect type of the \"holier than thou\" individual whose secret heart is a very stagnation of egotism, selfishness and disregard for others' feelings.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1888, Fitz-Mac [pseudonym; James P. MacCarthy], “The Rev. Myron W[inslow] Reed”, in Political Portraits, Colorado Springs, Colo.: The Gazette Printing Co., →OCLC, page 94:",
          "text": "His garb is such as any gentleman might wear—a farmer, a thrifty mechanic, a teacher, or a plain business man—a brown slouch hat, any kind of a simple necktie, any kind of a coat except the unctuous holier-than-thou broadcloth with the front full of button holes.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1952 March 29, Harry S. Truman, “Address at the Jefferson–Jackson Day Dinner”, in Harry S. Truman, 1952–53: […] (Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States), Washington, D.C.: Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Service; United States Government Printing Office, published 1966, →OCLC, page 225, column 1:",
          "text": "I don't think the \"black is white\" campaign of the Republican Party is going to succeed. I think the voters are going to see through this holier-than-thou disguise that our Republican friends are putting on.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1980 December 1, Ray Hnatyshyn, “Judges Act: Measure to Increase Salaries of Judges”, in House of Commons Debates, Official Report, First Session—Thirty-second Parliament, 29 Elizabeth II (House of Commons of Canada), volume V, Ottawa: Queen’s Printer for Canada, →OCLC, page 5211, column 2:",
          "text": "But I can understand the hon. member's sense of sanctimony; he has now been a member of the NDP caucus for a while and the holier-than-thou attitude has been bred into him.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1991 July 8, George [Herbert Walker] Bush, “Interview with Foreign Journalists”, in George Bush, 1991 (in Two Books) (Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States), book II, Washington, D.C.: Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Service; United States Government Printing Office, published 1992, →OCLC, page 835, column 2:",
          "text": "The Soviet economy is hurting now, and I say that not holier-than-thou, but it is; factually, the Soviet economy is in bad shape.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2003, Lothar Höbelt, “The Nazi Question Mark: The ‘Linguistic Turn’ and the ‘Shadows of the Past’”, in Defiant Populist: Jörg Haider and the Politics of Austria (Central European Studies), West Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue University Press, →ISBN, page 121:",
          "text": "Whether you see that as belated recognition of a collective shame (if not guilt) or as a \"holier than thou\" pharisaism, it was certainly made much simpler by the fact that the generation under discussion had started to fade from public life.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014 September 30, David Smith, “David’s Guide for What to Look For in a Centre”, in Suffer the Little Children: An Insider’s View of the Workings of Early Childcare Facilities in New Zealand […], [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, pages 94–95:",
          "text": "Everything connected with the care of children no matter how trivial has to be seen to be politically correct. This tends to create a \"holier-than-thou\" attitude, where if something even hints of being politically incorrect, then no matter how much fun it might be for the children, it will not take place.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Hypocritically or self-righteously pious; sanctimonious."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "Hypocritically",
          "hypocritically"
        ],
        [
          "self-righteously",
          "self-righteously"
        ],
        [
          "pious",
          "pious"
        ],
        [
          "sanctimonious",
          "sanctimonious"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(derogatory) Hypocritically or self-righteously pious; sanctimonious."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "arrogant"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "derogatory"
      ]
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    {
      "rhymes": "-aʊ"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ast",
      "lang": "Asturian",
      "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
      "word": "santeru"
    },
    {
      "code": "ast",
      "lang": "Asturian",
      "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
      "word": "musarañu"
    },
    {
      "code": "ast",
      "lang": "Asturian",
      "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
      "word": "pamplineru"
    },
    {
      "code": "eo",
      "lang": "Esperanto",
      "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
      "word": "bigota"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
      "word": "hurskasteleva"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
      "word": "benoît"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
      "word": "bigot"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
      "tags": [
        "singular"
      ],
      "word": "pápább a pápánál"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ],
      "word": "pápábbak a pápánál"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
      "word": "szenteskedő"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
      "tags": [
        "derogatory",
        "vulgar"
      ],
      "word": "świętojebliwy"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
      "word": "świętoszkowaty"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
      "word": "santo do pau oco"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "licemernyj",
      "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
      "word": "лицемерный"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "blagočestivo-licemernyj",
      "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
      "word": "благочестиво-лицемерный"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "samodovolʹnyj",
      "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
      "word": "самодовольный"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "samodovolʹnyj",
      "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
      "word": "самодовольный"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
      "word": "santurrón"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "hypocritically or self-righteously pious",
      "word": "gazmoño"
    }
  ],
  "word": "holier-than-thou"
}