SENTENTIOUS Synonyms: 76 Similar and Opposite Words

sententious

adjective

sen-ˈten(t)-shəs

Definition of sententious

as in moralizing

marked by or given to preaching moral values a sententious crank who has written countless letters to the editor about the decline in family values

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

as in concise

marked by the use of few words to convey much information or meaning memoirs that are filled with sententious observations on love, marriage, and happiness

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of sententious Even in the fixedness of their forms—their sententious certitude—a single work may conflate the erotic and the machinic, the vernacular and the archetypal, the abstract and the practical. — Ara H. Merjian, ARTnews.com, 16 Aug. 2026 This conclusion will shock anyone who knows Twain only through his writing, in which the author is wise and witty and, above all, devastating in his portrayal of frauds, cretins, and sententious bores. — Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 9 May 2025 Audiences have no choice but to exist in the theatrical moment, without recourse to linear logic, sententious language or psychological epiphanies. — Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 16 Mar. 2025 This is a bracing, even novel, perspective on a war whose film depictions so often traffic in sententious Greatest Generation platitudes. — Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 25 Oct. 2024 Without the wit inherent in an epigram, a sententious formulation becomes a mere adage, aphorism, apothegm, gnome, maxim, or saw. — Bryan A. Garner, National Review, 15 Sep. 2022

Recent Examples of Synonyms for sententious

Adjective

But the show also develops a moralizing streak in its back half.

— Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 1 Oct. 2026
Eliot departs here from the moralizing messages of Memling and La Tour.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 31 Aug. 2026

Definition of moralizing

Adjective

This excellent volume contains a series of concise and authoritative essays on key aspects of the Ghetto’s early history, written by leading experts in the field.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 16 Oct. 2026
Gemini needed 11 seconds to respond despite delivering a more concise, straight-to-the-point answer.

— Kimberly Gedeon, PC Magazine, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of concise

Adjective

In one memorable scene, Mari takes to a whiteboard to explain the destructive workings of capitalism, a lengthy, potentially didactic exercise that Okamoto transforms into an unexpectedly intimate exchange.

— Lisa Wong Macabasco, Vogue, 23 Oct. 2026
Not wanting a didactic feel, Ebenstein eschewed labels for the art, artifacts, masks, toys, skeletal and wet specimens, wax scientific models, devotional objects, vintage taxidermy and books.

— Dina Cheney, Washington Post, 17 Oct. 2026

Definition of didactic

Adjective

Yet now, after brief outbreaks in Texas during the 1970s and the Florida Keys in 2016, the dangerous parasite has returned.

— Robert Kelly, Fortune, 22 Oct. 2026
After Jahan Dotson’s chance at a first impression came and went with only one catch for 19 yards in a season-opening loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Falcons’ receiver shared a brief chat with president of football Matt Ryan.

— Daniel Flick, AJC.com, 21 Oct. 2026

Definition of brief

Adjective

The enduring travails of the Shinnecock Indian Nation, landed cousins of the Montauketts in eastern Long Island, are instructive.

— Jason Motlagh, Rolling Stone, 22 Oct. 2026
How Davis, Lee, and others convinced themselves of their cause, although instructive to the working of the human mind, is immaterial to the facts of American history.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 19 Oct. 2026

Definition of instructive

Adjective

The judge considered hundreds of pages of evidence and testimony from San Diego officials, homeowners and their lawyers and determined that the city had not met the burden for what is called summary adjudication in any of the five causes of actions.

— Jeff McDonald, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 Apr. 2026
Such rights obviously do not include summary execution at sea.

— Mary Ellen O'Connell, The Conversation, 4 Sep. 2025

Definition of summary

Adjective

Thou Shalt Not Steal, which launches on October 6, is a coming-of-age, roadtrip, moralistic odyssey about the lies people tell themselves and each other.

— Peter White, Deadline, 2 Oct. 2026
If the senator’s moralism has been unfettered by his stroke, with a shift toward right-brain moralistic processing, that does not diminish his sincere intent or its effect.

— Michael P.H. Stanley, STAT, 10 Sep. 2026

Definition of moralistic

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sententiae

sententious

sententiously

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“Sententious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sententious. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of sententious

adjective

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