pharisaical

English

Alternative forms

• Pharisaical

Etymology

From Late Latin Pharisaicus +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /faɹɪˈseɪk(ə)l/

Adjective

pharisaical (comparative more pharisaical, superlative most pharisaical)

1. Of or pertaining to the Pharisees. [from 16th c.]
2. (chiefly Christianity) Emphasizing the observance of ritual or practice over the meaning; self-righteous, hypocritical. [from 16th c.]
   • 1838, [Letitia Elizabeth] Landon (indicated as editor), chapter XVIII, in Duty and Inclination: […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 235:

     Perhaps no man in the world had less than Douglas the pharisaical precision of Methodism; he was totally averse to their sudden and evanescent flights of enthusiasm, their frantic ravings of intemperate zeal in devotion, as if invoking a vindictive and implacable Deity; […]

   • 2012, Piers Brendon, ‘Beginning the Dissent’, Literary Review, volume 401:

     Thus Aurobindo Ghose stated that the puritanical, pharisaical British conquered in the name of liberty and usurped under the cloak of altruism.

Synonyms

• pharisaic

Related terms

• pharisaical
• pharisaically
• pharisaicalness
• pharisaism

Translations

both senses — see pharisaic

See also

• Pharisee