hypocrisy
Feigned moral standards
Hypocrisy is the gap between what someone professes to believe and how they actually behave—claiming virtue while practicing vice.
A preacher who condemns adultery while having affairs displays hypocrisy.
The word often implies deliberate deception, but hypocrisy can also be unconscious: It's easy to see hypocrisy in others and miss it in yourself.
Deceptive outward appearance
- masqueradeDeceptive act or costume party
- guiseExternal manner shown
- shamFraudulent imitation
- posturingInsincere behavior for effect
affectation · veneer · show · feigning · phoniness · fakery · lip service · cant
Insincere and deceptive
- double-dealingDeceptive practice of betrayal
- dissemblingConcealing true motives
- deceitfulnessDisposition to mislead
- dishonestyDisposition toward falsehood
falsehood · betrayal · treachery · backstabbing · untrustworthiness · fraudulence · bad faith · broken promises
Intentional criminal trickery
- artificeClever deceptive strategy
- subterfugeDeliberate deception to conceal
- trickeryDeliberate deception or fraud
- misrepresentationFalse or misleading statement
manipulation · chicanery · hoax · fabrication · scheming · cunning · guile · concealment
Smugly certain of correctness
- holier-than-thouSmugly moralistic toward others
- sanctimoniousFeigning moral superiority
- moralizingDelivering ethical lectures
- pharisaicalHypocritically self-righteous
preachy · judgmental · smugness · piousness · condescending · unctuous · virtue signaling · puritanical
Lack of steady pattern
- biasUnfair inclination or prejudice
- favoritismPreferential treatment of some
- discriminationUnjust differential treatment
- partialityUnfair favor toward some
facade
Deceptive outward appearance
- masqueradeDeceptive act or costume party
- guiseExternal manner shown
- shamFraudulent imitation
posturing · affectation · veneer · show · feigning · phoniness · fakery · lip service · cant · insincerity
two-faced
Insincere and deceptive
- double-dealingDeceptive practice of betrayal
- dissemblingConcealing true motives
- deceitfulnessDisposition to mislead
dishonesty · falsehood · betrayal · treachery · backstabbing · untrustworthiness · fraudulence · bad faith · broken promises · saying one thing
fraud
Intentional criminal trickery
- artificeClever deceptive strategy
- subterfugeDeliberate deception to conceal
- trickeryDeliberate deception or fraud
misrepresentation · manipulation · chicanery · hoax · fabrication · scheming · cunning · guile · concealment · misdirection
self-righteous
Smugly certain of correctness
- holier-than-thouSmugly moralistic toward others
- sanctimoniousFeigning moral superiority
- moralizingDelivering ethical lectures
pharisaical · preachy · judgmental · smugness · piousness · condescending · unctuous · virtue signaling · puritanical · pietistic
inconsistency
Lack of steady pattern
- biasUnfair inclination or prejudice
- favoritismPreferential treatment of some
- discriminationUnjust differential treatment
partiality · unequal treatment · moving goalposts · cherry-picking
- dirty trickscheating, lying, deceit, trickery, deception
- insincerityinsincerity, phoniness, fakeness, falseness, pretense
- Social Pretensepretense, facade, affectation, phoniness, insincerity
- hypocrisysanctimony, two-faced, self-righteousness, holier than thou, double standard
- social critiquesocial injustice, inequality, expose, muckraking, polemic
- forbidden actsblasphemy, idolatry, sacrilege, adultery, incest
hypocrisysincerity
Honest, unfeigned genuineness
genuineness · authenticity · integrity · walking the talk · honesty
hypocrisysincerity
Honest, unfeigned genuineness
genuineness · candor · frankness · forthrightness · straightforwardness
hypocrisyintegrity
Moral soundness and consistency
authenticity · probity · rectitude · virtue · moral fiber
hypocrite, hypocritical, hypocrites, hypocrisies, hypocritically