Pharisaical
//faɹɪˈseɪk(ə)l// adj
adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Adjective
- 1 Of or pertaining to the Pharisees.
- 2 Emphasizing the observance of ritual or practice over the meaning; self-righteous, hypocritical.
"Perhaps no man in the world had less than Douglas the pharisaical precision of Methodism; he was totally averse to their sudden and evanescent flights of enthusiasm, their frantic ravings of intemperate zeal in devotion, as if invoking a vindictive and implacable Deity;[…]"
Adjective
- 1 excessively or hypocritically pious wordnet
Example
More examples"Perhaps no man in the world had less than Douglas the pharisaical precision of Methodism; he was totally averse to their sudden and evanescent flights of enthusiasm, their frantic ravings of intemperate zeal in devotion, as if invoking a vindictive and implacable Deity;[…]"
Etymology
From Late Latin Pharisaicus + -al.
More for "pharisaical"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.