define hypocritical thinking

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[ hip - uh -krit ]

• a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that they do not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.
• a person who feigns some desirable or publicly approved attitude, especially one whose private life, opinions, or statements belie their public statements.

/ ˈhɪpəkrɪt /

• a person who pretends to be what he is not

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Derived forms.

• ˌhypoˈcritically , adverb
• ˌhypoˈcritical , adjective

Other Words From

• hypo·criti·cal adjective
• super·hypo·crite noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of hypocrite 1

Example Sentences

So if you’re a left-leaning politician who throws a leg over a rig, you’re setting yourself up as a weakling, or a hypocrite, or a reckless fool.

In the local TV interview he did, Thomas juxtaposed McCarthy directly with another central California Republican in the House, David Valadao, as “hypocrites and heroes.”

We all know that Republicans are indeed hypocrites when it comes to debt and deficits.

Democrats have accused Republicans of being hypocrites, because of their refusal in 2016 to consider then-President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland.

There’s even less reason for LGBTQ voters to support him, no matter what the hypocrites at Log Cabin tell you.

Does wildlife campaigner Prince Charles's hunting habit make him a hypocrite?

Arkansas Congressman Tom Cotton is a dangerous man and a hypocrite.

Eric Cantor was a noxious, cookie-cutter, U.S. Chamber, GOP hypocrite.

Therefore, if a liberal makes too much money advocating on behalf of the poor, she or he becomes a hypocrite.

Your criticism of me as a hypocrite is lame, weak and not really thought out.

The true man stands out in his native dignity and the gilding is rubbed off the hypocrite.

Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thy own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

But while she cared little for his adulations, she did not because of them consider him a scoundrel, nor necessarily a hypocrite.

Three shall not enter Paradise—the scoffer, the hypocrite, and the slanderer.

But in the priestly city, where education consists in being taught to play the hypocrite and to lie, traitors abound.

Related Words

Definition of 'hypocritic'

Hypocritic in british english.

hypocrite in British English

Trends of hypocritic

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Embarrassment

Wising up about the hypocrisy in popular moral principles, shame shamers, hate haters, be intolerant of intolerance, judging is wrong....

Posted March 6, 2020

Check out these popular moral principles:

Be intolerant of intolerance.

Don't listen to people who don't listen.

Don't compromise with people who don't compromise.

Shame on people who shame people.

Never be a name-caller.

Shun people who shun people.

Humiliate humiliators.

When you're dealing with narcissists, look out for number one.

Negativity is a no-no.

In general, don't generalize.

Categorizers are bad.

Be offended by hypersensitive people.

Be harsh with insensitive people.

Get on your high horse to expose arrogant people.

Cheat all cheaters.

Snub all snubbers.

Lie to liars.

Hate haters.

Defeat bullies.

Make sure that others do unto you as they would do for themselves.

Kill killers.

Though they ring true, they're all hypocritical. If you follow their guidance, you'll end up engaged in the very behaviors they condemn. For instance, to be intolerant of intolerance makes you intolerant. To call someone a name-caller is to name-call. To kill killers is killing.

It's interesting how little attention we give to this inherent, inescapable hypocrisy in our moral principles, especially for all the trouble it causes. Given the hypocrisy, it's no wonder that many of our arguments end up escalating as both parties accuse each other of the same bad behaviors.

"You're arrogant."

"Well, look who thinks he's the last word on who's arrogant?!"

No wonder so many ex-partners conclude that the other is a narcissist .

"I had to look out for myself because you turned out to be a narcissist."

"No, I was just looking out for myself because you turned out to be a narcissist."

No wonder so many adult fights sound like children bickering, accusing each other of the same things and claiming the other person started it.

"Yes, I cheated, because you cheated first!"

"No, I didn't! I cheated because you cheated first!"

Quite a bind: There's something to each of these moral principles, and yet the bottom drops out of their credibility when you notice that they're inherently hypocritical.

Perhaps many of our problems with other people aren't as personal as they seem. Perhaps a lot of it stems from these two-faced moral principles both guiding and misguiding our behaviors.

As accusers, it's not to our advantage to notice the inherent hypocrisy. We can play police, deciding who has violated these moral principles. For example, get on your high horse to expose arrogant people. Ignore the fact that you got on your high horse to do so.

As the accused, however, it's to our advantage to exploit the hypocrisy. That way, you can pivot and deflect all criticism.

"Me intolerant?! What about your intolerance of me?"

"Me insensitive? It's damned insensitive of you to accuse me like that!"

In other words, we can use the inherent hypocrisy to be better at dishing it out without taking it. Indeed, we can dish it out so we don't have to take it since if you're sufficiently outraged by other people's moral violations, you can pretend that your outrage proves your morality .

If you're the moral police, calling other people on their moral violations, you can blare your siren so loud you don't have to wonder about or hear the possibility that you, too, are in violation.

I call this posturing "exempt by contempt":

"Me a liar? Impossible! I hate when people lie to me. That proves I couldn't lie to others. I'm exempt from the accusation!"

Outrage is a powerful drug. It affords us quick super-strength relief from self-doubt. Outrage frees us to wield these hypocritical moral principles to our advantage.

And whole populations can become cults under their influence. Whole countries have been ruined by cults of whatever persuasion that got completely addicted to outrage and its "exempt by contempt" relief:

"Our enemies are vermin. They are immoral and inferior. We're declaring all-out war on them. All is fair in war. We no longer have to worry about our morality with these vile creatures, because we're morally superior to them, and they must be punished. If they accuse us of being immoral, we'll just say, 'I know you are, but what am I?' Because really, morality is a joke. I mean, look at them accusing us of doing the things that they're doing. Since we're dealing with total hypocrites like them, morality has nothing to do with it. Just make them pay for their immorality."

Is there a better way to manage the inherent hypocrisy in our moral principles?

I think there is.

When a moral principle is inherently hypocritical, don't exploit it as a license to do whatever you want. Don't get cynical. Don't indulge in selective outrage at your competition 's immorality and hypocrisy.

Instead, recognize that an inherently hypocritical moral principle isn't a principle after all. It's a moral dilemma.

For example, when someone says, "Don't be judgmental," notice that the principle is hypocritical and therefore, that it raises a dilemma you'll be dealing with all of your living days: Under what conditions to be and not be judgmental?

It's not like judgment is always good or always bad. You have to make good, educated guesses about what to judge and what not to judge. That's your human birthright. That's your human responsibility.

Making good, educated guesses about moral dilemmas is my definition of wisdom . It's right there in the serenity prayer (well, almost, with a little paraphrasing):

Grant me the serenity not to judge what I'm unlikely to be able to change, the courage to judge what I'm likely to be able to change, and the wisdom to keep trying to learn the differences that make a difference to whether I should judge.

Wisdom isn't just about knowing the differences. Not even the wisest people could know with absolute certainty what they are likely to be able to change. Rather the wisdom is in our wanting to keep learning about the differences.

Wise people never stop learning. They know that moral principles don't solve it. They know that moral dilemmas are life's continuing- education school of hard knocks.

To have wisdom is to be forever questing to know the difference between situations that call for:

Tolerating vs. not tolerating (Be intolerant of intolerant people)

Listening vs. not listening (Don't listen to people who don't listen)

Compromising vs. not compromising (Don't compromise with people who don't compromise)

Shaming vs. not shaming (Shame on people who shame people)

Name-calling vs. not name-calling (Never be a name-caller)

Shunning vs. not shunning (Shun people who shun people)

Humiliating vs. not humiliating (Humiliate humiliators)

Selfishness vs. selflessness (Look out for number one, when you're dealing with narcissists)

Negativity vs. neutrality (Negativity is a no-no).

Generalizing vs. not generalizing (In general, don't generalize)

Categorizing vs. not categorizing (All categorizers are bad).

Being offended vs. not offended (Be offended by hypersensitive people)

Being insensitive vs. not insensitive (Be harsh with insensitive people)

Dominating vs. not dominating (Get on your high horse to expose arrogant people)

Cheating vs. not cheating (Cheat all cheaters)

Snubbing vs. not snubbing (Snub all snubbers)

Lying vs. not lying (Lie to liars)

Hating vs. not hating (Hate all haters)

Bullying vs. not bullying (Defeat all bullies)

Giving vs. taking (Make sure that others do unto you as they would do for themselves)

Killing vs. not killing (Kill all killers)

If any of these make you bristle (for example, thinking, "Wait, there's never a time to kill, cheat, lie, or bully!"), I encourage you to reflect a moment on the inherently hypocritical nature of the moral "principle" in question and to look not for examples of the behavior is bad, but rather when it is good. For example, killing in self-defense, cheating or killing a tyrant, or bullying a bully into submission.

To awaken to moral dilemmas is indeed to wake to lifelong disappointment. You can't live a formulaic life living by last word moral principles, after all. Instead, you'll be struggling to figure out what different circumstances call for.

Still, there's peace of mind to be had in recognizing that these principles are really dilemmas. You can stop beating yourself up for failing to live by some absolute iron-clad, last-word moral principle. There's an embrace of your humanness and of all humanity in that we're all dealing with these same moral dilemmas. What makes them dilemmas is their inherent, inescapable hypocrisy, which deserves more of our attention.

Jeremy Sherman, Ph.D., MPP, has a wide research agenda — psychology from cradle to grave, life’s origins to our grave situation, grounded in a 25-year close collaboration with Berkeley neuroscientist, biological anthropologist Terrence Deacon.

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hypercritical

Definition of hypercritical

• cavilling
• faultfinding
• overcritical

critical , hypercritical , faultfinding , captious , carping , censorious mean inclined to look for and point out faults and defects.

critical may also imply an effort to see a thing clearly and truly in order to judge it fairly.

hypercritical suggests a tendency to judge by unreasonably strict standards.

faultfinding implies a querulous or exacting temperament.

captious suggests a readiness to detect trivial faults or raise objections on trivial grounds.

carping implies an ill-natured or perverse picking of flaws.

censorious implies a disposition to be severely critical and condemnatory.

Examples of hypercritical in a Sentence

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

Word History

1605, in the meaning defined above

Dictionary Entries Near hypercritical

hypercritic

hypercriticize

Cite this Entry

“Hypercritical.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hypercritical. Accessed 14 May. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of hypercritical, more from merriam-webster on hypercritical.

Nglish: Translation of hypercritical for Spanish Speakers

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Meaning of hypocritically in English

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• It is widely believed that he hypocritically switched tax policies to pick up votes .
• He hypocritically accused his opponent of being inconsistent on the issues .
• Designers hypocritically claim they are aiming for the trendy youth market .
• artificiality
• be rotten to the core idiom
• fly-by-night
• mendaciously
• misleadingly
• under false pretences phrase
• unreliability
• unscrupulous

Translations of hypocritically

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