hypocrisy
noun
hy·poc·ri·sy
hi-ˈpä-krə-sē 
also hī-
plural hypocrisies
1
: a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not : behavior that contradicts what one claims to believe or feel
His hypocrisy was finally revealed with the publication of his private letters.
especially
: the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion
our conventional morality often serves as a cover for hypocrisy and selfishness —
Lucius Garvin
Lucius Garvin 2
: an act or instance of hypocrisy
a keen awareness of one's parents' hypocrisies
Examples of hypocrisy in a Sentence
When his private letters were made public, they revealed his hypocrisy.
the hypocrisy of people who say one thing but do another
Teenagers often have a keen awareness of their parents' hypocrisies.
Recent Examples on the Web
China and other rivals have gained yet another example to add to their long narrative of U.S. capriciousness and hypocrisy.
—Bloomberg Opinion, Twin Cities, 21 Feb. 2025
Unfolding with a tense, uncanny rhythm, the film knocks you over the head with its cynical ideas about class, privilege and the hypocrisies of white guilt.
—Beatrice Loayza, New York Times, 21 Feb. 2025
But the alternative to the hypocrisies of soft power and the postwar liberal order was never going to be a chastened, humbler American foreign policy—neither the left’s fantasy of a plus-size Norway nor the right’s of a return to the isolationist 1920s.
—George Packer, The Atlantic, 20 Feb. 2025
More importantly, the documentary slyly highlights the hypocrisy now embedded in the DNA of a onetime bastion of rebelliousness becoming more and more mainstream over the years.
—Jen Chaney, Vulture, 30 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hypocrisy
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Bloomberg Opinion, Twin Cities, 21 Feb. 2025
Unfolding with a tense, uncanny rhythm, the film knocks you over the head with its cynical ideas about class, privilege and the hypocrisies of white guilt.
—Beatrice Loayza, New York Times, 21 Feb. 2025
But the alternative to the hypocrisies of soft power and the postwar liberal order was never going to be a chastened, humbler American foreign policy—neither the left’s fantasy of a plus-size Norway nor the right’s of a return to the isolationist 1920s.
—George Packer, The Atlantic, 20 Feb. 2025
More importantly, the documentary slyly highlights the hypocrisy now embedded in the DNA of a onetime bastion of rebelliousness becoming more and more mainstream over the years.
—Jen Chaney, Vulture, 30 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hypocrisy
Cite this Entry
“Hypocrisy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hypocrisy. Accessed 11 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
hypocrisy
noun
hy·poc·ri·sy
hip-ˈäk-rə-sē
plural hypocrisies
: behavior that does not agree with what one claims to believe or feel
the hypocrisy of people who say one thing and do another
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