Mawworm

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative spelling of maw-worm. alt-of, alternative
  2. 2
    A hypocrite. archaic

    "That there are a sufficient number of Mawworms and Cantwells in the profession, is abundantly proved by the number of signatures obtained to the petition against opening the Crystal Palace on Sundays."

Synonyms

All synonyms
canterformalisthypocritephariseeposerranter

Example

More examples

"That there are a sufficient number of Mawworms and Cantwells in the profession, is abundantly proved by the number of signatures obtained to the petition against opening the Crystal Palace on Sundays."

Etymology

The name of a character in the play The Hypocrite (1768) by Isaac Bickerstaffe; from maw-worm.

Related phrases

maw worm

More for "mawworm"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.