How to Use sanctimony in a Sentence

sanctimony

noun
  • Folks involved in funding this lied about it, and with sanctimony, for a year.
    — Jonah Goldberg, National Review, 27 Oct. 2017
  • And if two judges played selective sanctimony and walked off the stage?
    — Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Feb. 2022
  • The era of sanctimony has, in the past few years, given way to a dawning skepticism.
    — Rachel Aviv, The New Yorker, 21 Mar. 2018
  • This breeds a funny mix of pugilism and sanctimony that can be, frankly, a little unlikable.
    — Clare Malone, The New Yorker, 10 Feb. 2024
  • This is where the sanctimony and the moralizing comes in.
    — Miami Herald, 28 Jan. 2026
  • The sanctimony could perhaps be forgiven if the statement was at least true.
    — Seth Mandel, Washington Examiner, 11 Feb. 2021
  • In response, the boy’s mother smacks the white woman, whose sanctimony quickly turns to shock.
    — Rebecca Keegan, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2023
  • The sanctimony on all sides can’t hide the fact that this is a raw geopolitical argument.
    — David Meyer, Fortune, 2 Mar. 2023
  • Rage and sanctimony always spread like a virus, and become stronger with each iteration.
    — Peggy Noonan, WSJ, 15 June 2017
  • In this generally sporting tam toss of a memoir, such an assertion lands with the soft plunk of sanctimony.
    — Alexandra Jacobs, New York Times, 14 Oct. 2021
  • Dabo Swinney would do well to keep his sanctimony, and his medical opinions, to himself.
    — Nancy Armour, USA TODAY, 23 Nov. 2020
  • Putin sees Syria as proof that American sanctimony is often not backed by force.
    — Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, 25 July 2017
  • That’s not to denigrate Punch, which is solidly built and well-meaning without sanctimony.
    — Sara Holdren, Vulture, 30 Sep. 2025
  • The result is a story that lets its characters think and speak as people do rather than wreathing them in self-correcting sanctimony.
    — Meghan Cox Gurdon, WSJ, 14 May 2021
  • The theory is that awards show viewers are there for the frocks and starry frivolity, not sanctimony and hectoring.
    — Steven Gaydos, Variety, 27 Feb. 2024
  • True believers like Comey are crucial to honest institutions, and sanctimony is a small price to pay for this.
    — T.a. Frank, The Hive, 4 May 2018
  • Neither of those dishes comes with a hint of sanctimony, or even of prescription; in fact, the menu suggests adding crispy (real) chicken to the salad.
    — Hannah Goldfield, The New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2019
  • But Morgan’s never been one to let dialectical coherence get in the way of his sanctimony.
    — Jeremy Egner, New York Times, 27 Mar. 2016
  • The sanctimony here over players being able to profit is suffocating.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 20 Oct. 2019
  • There are laughs, but the prevalent tone is one of discreet compassion, without condescension or sanctimony.
    — Patrick Friel, Chicago Reader, 29 Jan. 2018
  • There is such a quick assumption of ill will and an increasing sanctimony and humorlessness that can often seem inhumane.
    — Dave Eggers, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2017
  • The effect is to achieve Woods’s desire to inject nuance into the show’s discussions and plots without sanctimony.
    — Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 26 Jan. 2024
  • But Gem’s tasting-menu format, with its sombre, methodical coursing, can feel refined to the point of sanctimony.
    — Rachel Aviv, The New Yorker, 12 Apr. 2018
  • The Sparrow is loathsome, wrapping in sanctimony the same crass power craving that animates many of the show’s characters.
    — Jeremy Egner, New York Times, 5 June 2016
  • No sanctimony Other Latter-day Saint athletes had prospered in their sports and been praised far and wide for playing on Sundays.
    — Gordon Monson, The Salt Lake Tribune, 30 Sep. 2021
  • This passive-aggressive sanctimony has become the driving force of crusading filmmakers such as Zhao.
    — Armond White, National Review, 15 Jan. 2021
  • These episodes are unsavory occasions for voyeurism, and an apology adds nothing except a warm tingle of sanctimony for those who chase the adulterers with torches and pitchforks.
    — Marcia Desanctis, Town & Country, 14 Feb. 2013
  • Further, the play is all too successful in replicating the sententiousness and sanctimony of recovery jargon, at least as overheard by an outsider.
    — Jesse Green, New York Times, 25 Oct. 2017
  • Nobody can foresee all of the ways any AI product might be used, for good or ill, but that’s exactly why Anthropic’s sanctimony can seem silly.
    — Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 28 Jan. 2026
  • The Zone was meant to step up, not down, to stir thought, to break through tradition and conformity, to punch sacred cows and puncture sanctimony, to praise great performances and criticize lousy ones.
    — Gordon Monson, The Salt Lake Tribune, 8 Oct. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sanctimony.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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