holier-than-thou

What does holier-than-thou mean?

holier-than-thou means "excessively or hypocritically pious".

How many syllables are in holier-than-thou?

holier-than-thou has 4 syllables and divides as ho-lier--than--thou under the regular spelling rules. It is not in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, so that comes from how the word is written rather than from a recorded pronunciation, and no stress or phonetic transcription is claimed for it.

What is another word for holier-than-thou?

Close synonyms include pietistic, pietistical, pharisaic, pharisaical, sanctimonious. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is holier-than-thou a common word?

holier-than-thou is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for holier-than-thou come from Princeton University’s WordNet. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.