piousness

noun

Definition of piousnessnext
1
as in deception
the pretending of having virtues, principles, or beliefs that one in fact does not have an outward piousness that was just a ploy to get him the support of religious-minded voters

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in holiness
the quality or state of being spiritually pure or virtuous the piousness with which he lived every aspect of his life was an inspiration to the other monks at the abbey

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for piousness
  1. deception
  2. holiness
  3. hypocrisy
  4. spirituality
  5. deceit
  6. affectation
  7. pretense
  8. pretension
Noun
  • But because pressured waterfowl aren’t easy to fool, hunters have been trying to perfect the art of decoy deception to swing the odds in their favor.
    Alice Jones Webb, Outdoor Life, 14 Nov. 2024
  • On Thursday, Prime Video debuted the first trailer for its series adaptation of the 1999 teen movie, all eight episodes premiering Nov. 21 on the streamer, bringing a familiar tale of deception to a new locale with all new characters.
    Glenn Garner, Deadline, 24 Oct. 2024
Definition of deception
Noun
  • The priests focused mostly on holiness, the prophets on justice and compassion, and the royal courtiers on practical wisdom.
    Jonathan Sacks, Foreign Affairs, 1 Nov. 2012
  • The Ally has chosen sink themselves with pomposity, a humorless sense of holiness, or, worse still, plain canniness — a cynical nod to the selling power of relevance lurking inside a righteous agenda.
    Sara Holdren, Vulture, 28 Feb. 2024
Definition of holiness
Noun
  • Young people, in general, are particularly attuned to hypocrisies, which, in turn, kick up a sometimes errant, but oftentimes righteous, desire to rage against the machine.
    Jay Caspian Kang, The New Yorker, 25 Oct. 2024
  • Lying, like hypocrisy, happens often in the business world — and sometimes makes headlines.
    Stephanie Dillon, Rolling Stone, 11 Oct. 2024
Definition of hypocrisy
Noun
  • How brujas use spirituality to honor the ancestors on Día de Muertos.
    Christian Orozco, Los Angeles Times, 2 Nov. 2024
  • Ashwagandha is a staple of Ayurvedic medicine, for example, but the practice traditionally exists in a larger cultural context that also includes mindfulness, yoga, spirituality, and other things that play a part in addressing stress.
    Jessie Van Amburg, SELF, 29 Oct. 2024
Definition of spirituality
Noun
  • This ongoing effort has created a web of cruelty, deceit, and corruption in which many unfortunate people are ensnared.
    Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 13 Sep. 2024
  • Still, the lawsuit has exposed layers of contradictions and deceit in the Saudi government’s portrayal of Omar al-Bayoumi, a middle-aged Saudi graduate student in San Diego who was the central figure in the hijackers’ support network.
    Tim Golden, ProPublica, 11 Sep. 2024
Definition of deceit
Noun
  • His eccentricities — once easily dismissed as the affectations of a lonely man — read maniacal.
    Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 25 Oct. 2024
  • Strangely, the results come off as a directorial affectation, a willful cramping of her style.
    Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 3 Oct. 2024
Definition of affectation
Noun
  • But in his youth lies the reason for anonymity and pretense, Hoback claims.
    Joel Khalili, WIRED, 22 Oct. 2024
  • Liberals, apparently, got up close to voters under the pretense of handing out food and water.
    Antonia Hitchens, The New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2024
Definition of pretense
Noun
  • The past month in Lebanon, like the past year in Gaza, has demonstrated that Israel’s leaders have no idealistic pretensions about establishing a new political order in Lebanon or in the Strip.
    Mohanad Hage Ali, Foreign Affairs, 1 Nov. 2024
  • The chief theme, of course, is art itself, which wafts into pretension all too easily.
    Stephanie Bunbury, Deadline, 24 Sep. 2024
Definition of pretension
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Thesaurus Entries Near piousness

pious

piousness

pip

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Cite this Entry

“Piousness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/piousness. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.

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