hypocrite
/ˈhɪpəkrɪt
/noun
A hypocritical person: the story tells of respectable Ben who turns out to be a cheat and a hypocrite...
- Known hypocrites and liars may, of course, tell the truth about a particular incident.
- But Zeno would be easy to read were he merely reliably unreliable: he would be a hypocrite and a fool.
- He is a Pharisee exposed, the hypocrite who tells his patients how virtuous it is to be stoical.
Synonyms
sanctimonious person, pietist, whited sepulchre, plaster saint, humbug, pretender, deceiver, dissembler, impostor
informal phoney, Holy Willie
British informal creeping Jesus
North American informal bluenose
rare Pharisee, Tartuffe, Pecksniff, canter
Origin
Middle English: from Old French ypocrite, via ecclesiastical Latin from Greek hupokritēs 'actor', from hupokrinesthai (see hypocrisy).