pharisaical
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Late Latin Pharisaicus + -al.
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
pharisaical (comparative more pharisaical, superlative most pharisaical)
- Of or pertaining to the Pharisees. [from 16th c.]
- (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 edit
Related terms edit
- pharisaical
- pharisaically
- pharisaicalness
- pharisaism
Translations edit
both senses — see pharisaic