hypocrite
nouncommon in dialogue
- //ˈhɪ.pə.kɹɪt//
Someone who practices hypocrisy, who pretends to hold beliefs, or whose actions are not consistent with their claimed beliefs.
noun
- 1
Someone who practices hypocrisy, who pretends to hold beliefs, or whose actions are not consistent with their claimed beliefs.
And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
[S]he was one of your ſoft ſpoken, canting, whining hypocrites, who with a truly jeſuitical art, could wreſt evil out of the moſt inoffenſive thought, word, look or action; […]
Neither Mr. Meacham, who mostly ignores Jefferson’s slave ownership, nor Mr. Wiencek, who sees him as a sort of fallen angel who comes to slavery only after discovering how profitable it could be, seem willing to confront the ugly truth: the third president was a creepy, brutal hypocrite.
Etymology
From Old French ypocrite (Modern French hypocrite), from Latin hypocrita, from Ancient Greek ὑποκριτής (hupokritḗs, “actor, hypocrite”), from ὑποκρίνομαι (hupokrínomai, “to answer, act, feign”). Displaced native Old English līċettere.
Forms
- plural
- hypocrites
hypocrite · Someone who practices hypocrisy, who pretends to hold beliefs, or whose actions are not consistent with their claimed beliefs.
hypocritical · Characterized by hypocrisy or being a hypocrite.hypothesis · A tentative conjecture explaining an observation, phenomenon…hypothetical · Based upon a hypothesis; conjectural.