holier-than-thou

adjective

Definition of holier-than-thounext
as in cavalier
disapproving having or showing the annoying attitude of people who believe that they are morally better than other people a holier-than-thou attitude

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of holier-than-thou In my novel, Schar’s archnemesis, head deaconess Sheila Battle, began as a typical judgmental, holier-than-thou church lady. — Literary Hub, 9 Oct. 2026 How anyone ever saw Fried as a holier-than-thou aristocratic formalist is beyond me. — Carlos Valladares, ARTnews.com, 14 Aug. 2026 But there’s a line between analysis and holier-than-thou bloviation. — Mara Reinstein, HollywoodReporter, 24 Nov. 2025 WalletHub made sure that no state walked away feeling entirely holier-than-thou. — Michael Deeds, Idaho Statesman, 19 Aug. 2025 After all, Bill can be a buzzkill, and the Hills’ other neighbors, such as the conspiratorial Dale Gribble across the alley and the holier-than-thou Minh and Kahn Souphanousinphone next door, are flawed too. — Adrienne Matei, The Atlantic, 13 Aug. 2025 And Velia Martínez, who played the Spanish-speaking, holier-than-thou grandmother set in her ways, was born in Tampa, fluent in English and a longtime actress in Mexico and Cuba. — Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 8 July 2025 Laurie, now adopting her own holier-than-thou perch, is just as bad. — Erik Kain, Forbes, 24 Mar. 2025 Unlike baseball, with some of its holier-than-thou decisions with its Hall of Fame, the Basketball Hall of Fame largely looks at career on-court achievements. — Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 18 Feb. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for holier-than-thou
  1. cavalier
  2. boastful
  3. self-righteous
  4. smug
  5. moralistic
  6. self-important
  7. preachy
  8. arrogant
Adjective
  • What makes this emptiness more bothersome is the cavalier way Wingard wields the imagery of rogue, militarized killers wreaking havoc on the American landscape.
    — Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Perhaps most viscerally, given the ever-present specter of nuclear annihilation during the Cold War, Capps was appalled by Falwell’s apocalyptic rhetoric and cavalier posture toward global destruction.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of cavalier
Adjective
  • He a notoriously vain, boastful and fame-obsessed wizard well versed in Memory Charms who is recruited by Dumbledore as Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts.
    — Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 24 Aug. 2026
  • Defense witnesses pointed to boastful teens, fireworks-like flashes and uncertain ignition points, with an expert arguing that fireworks were the likely cause and that prosecutors lack proof that a lighter sparked the blaze.
    — Brittny Mejia, Los Angeles Times, 25 June 2026
Definition of boastful
Adjective
  • Along with his signature rapid-fire, garrulous dialogue, Sorkin’s tendency for self-righteous indignation is very much in evidence.
    — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 7 Oct. 2026
  • At least, until Verity’s final letter casts doubt upon Lowen’s self-righteous ending.
    — Emily Tannenbaum, Glamour, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of self-righteous
Adjective
  • Here was my chance to get out of London, this counterfeit of death with its everywhere rage and its moribund culture and its smug population and its streets steeped in resentment and the sky pressing down like a chloroform rag.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 1 Oct. 2026
  • Hilton vouches for their integrity, then quickly pivots into an attack on smug Democrats who take voters for granted.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 1 Oct. 2026
Definition of smug
Adjective
  • Thou Shalt Not Steal, which launches on October 6, is a coming-of-age, roadtrip, moralistic odyssey about the lies people tell themselves and each other.
    — Peter White, Deadline, 2 Oct. 2026
  • If the senator’s moralism has been unfettered by his stroke, with a shift toward right-brain moralistic processing, that does not diminish his sincere intent or its effect.
    — Michael P.H. Stanley, STAT, 10 Sep. 2026
Definition of moralistic
Adjective
  • These species, along with teal and shovelers, often get categorized by self-important duck hunters as scrap ducks or bonus ducks.
    — Alex Robinson, Outdoor Life, 9 Sep. 2026
  • Public officials attend each year to bear witness and show their respects, not deliver self-important speeches.
    — Ken Frydman, New York Daily News, 7 Sep. 2026
Definition of self-important
Adjective
  • In the final stretch of his coaching run, Pop became almost as famous for his preachy political lectures at the press podium.
    — Alejandro Avila OutKick, FOXNews.com, 24 Sep. 2026
  • That includes the power outage shutting down cell phone networks and Sunburn deliberately not being preachy about the often-talked about mental health risks for young people from excessive technology use.
    — Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 14 Sep. 2026
Definition of preachy
Adjective
  • Elon Musk — Ike Barinholtz has Musk wandering in from another movie, or dimension, a ramble-y, arrogant but ultimately comically non-threatening figure.
    — Steven Zeitchik, HollywoodReporter, 6 Oct. 2026
  • The loud-mouthed cameos from ex-soccer players Zlatan Ibrahimović and Eric Cantona in Nike’s World Cup hero film Rip the Script were indicative of this, chiming with an older, more arrogant vision of Nike seen in the ’90s and the aughts.
    — Joe Bobowicz, Vogue, 2 Oct. 2026
Definition of arrogant

Browse Nearby Words

holidays
holier-than-thou
holiness
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Cite this Entry

“Holier-than-thou.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/holier-than-thou. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

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