: a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion
2
: a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings
hypocriteadjective
Example Sentences
We can learn a good deal about the manners and morals of the times from Lautrec, for he was neither a hypocrite nor a sentimentalist, and there is a matter-of-fact-ness about his vision … that precludes both nostalgia and prurience. Elizabeth Cowling, Times Literary Supplement, 8 Nov. 1991Holding up high moral, ethical, and social standards is very difficult, because if one falls short of being a perfect example, one becomes a target and a hypocrite, albeit a well-meaning one. Mark Masters et al., New Dimensions, June 1990Of all of these things and people Cilla knew nothing, nor could he tell her, yet he tried to show interest in what she had to tell him. Once he would have been very interested. Now he felt like a hypocrite, and because he was uncomfortable he blamed it in some way on Cilla. Esther Forbes, Johnny Tremain, 1943 the hypocrites who criticize other people for not voting but who don't always vote themselves
Recent Examples on the WebTwitter is advancing this position so that a disdainful hypocrite will be forced to buy it. Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 13 July 2022 Stevens' now-viral post about Lake labeled Lake a hypocrite for targeting the gay community and drag performers. Stacey Barchenger, The Arizona Republic, 28 June 2022 White House officials and Democrats have called Abbott a hypocrite for not levying similar criticism on Trump. Arelis R. Hernández, Washington Post, 8 July 2022 Republican candidate for Arizona governor Kari Lake — and her campaign lawyer — are trying to silence a drag queen whose social media posts labeling Lake a hypocrite have gone viral. Stacey Barchenger, The Arizona Republic, 28 June 2022 But despite that, Linn criticized Smollett, calling him a narcissist and a hypocrite. Edward Segarra, USA TODAY, 11 Mar. 2022 An unplugged fanatic like Tartuffe is always going to have an unsettling effect on a family—though today our fanatic may as easily be a yoga enthusiast or a New Age seer as a puritanical hypocrite. Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 1 Feb. 2022 Labude’s father, a wealthy lawyer who is freely cheating on his wife, provides a model for the upstanding hypocrite, abandoning the old pre-war ways. Kyle Smith, National Review, 9 Mar. 2022 For the rest of the group, condemning the hypocrite in the strongest possible terms is an act of self-defense, a way to deter others from trying the same.New York Times, 22 Jan. 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
Middle English ypocrite, borrowed from Anglo-French ipocrite, borrowed from Late Latin hypocrita, borrowed from Greek hypokritḗs "answerer, actor on a stage, pretender," from hypokri-, variant stem of hypokrī́nomai, hypokrī́nesthai "to reply, make an answer, speak in dialogue, play a part on the stage, feign" + -tēs, agent suffix — more at hypocrisy