hypocrite

From Old French ypocrite (Modern French hypocrite), from Latin hypocrita, from Ancient Greek ὑποκριτής (hupokritḗs, “actor, hypocrite”), from ὑποκρίνομαι (hupokrínomai, “I answer, act, feign”). Displaced native Old English līċettere.

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɪ.pə.kɹɪt/

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hypocrite (plural hypocrites)

1. Someone who practices hypocrisy, who pretends to hold beliefs, or whose actions are not consistent with their claimed beliefs. [from early 13th c.]

   Synonyms: flip-flopper, pretender; see also Thesaurus:deceiver

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 6:5:

     And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

   • 1765, Catherine Jemmat, The Memoirs of Mrs. Catherine Jemmat, Daughter of the Late Admiral Yeo, of Plymouth. Written by Herself, 2nd edition, volume I, London: Printed for the author, at Charing-Cross, →OCLC, page 145:

     [S]he was one of your ſoft ſpoken, canting, whining hypocrites, who with a truly jeſuitical art, could wreſt evil out of the moſt inoffenſive thought, word, look or action; […]

   • 2012 November 30, Paul Finkelman, “The Real Thomas Jefferson: The Monster of Monticello”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     Neither Mr. Meacham, who mostly ignores Jefferson’s slave ownership, nor Mr. Wiencek, who sees him as a sort of fallen angel who comes to slavery only after discovering how profitable it could be, seem willing to confront the ugly truth: the third president was a creepy, brutal hypocrite.

• two-faced
• double standard
• hypocritical

• The Origin of the Term Hypokritēs

• rheotypic

• ^{(mute h)} IPA^(key): /i.pɔ.kʁit/

• Audio:

  (file)

hypocrite (plural hypocrites)

1. hypocritical
   • 1857, Charles Baudelaire, “Au lecteur”, in Les Fleurs du mal [The Flowers of Evil], Paris: Poulet-Malassis et De Broise:

     Tu le connais, lecteur, ce monstre délicat, / — Hypocrite lecteur, — mon semblable, — mon frère !

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• hypocritement

hypocrite m or f by sense (plural hypocrites)

1. hypocrite

• (informal) faux-cul, faux cul, faux jeton

• → Romanian: ipocrit.

• “hypocrite”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• chypriote, Chypriote