sanctimonious

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The Word of the Day for November 13 is:

sanctimonious   \sank-tuh-MOE-nee-us\   adjective
      : hypocritically pious or devout

Example sentence:
      My sanctimonious aunt always warns us about the evils of drinking and 
gambling, but according to my mother, she did those things herself when she was 
young.

Did you know?
      There's nothing sacred about "sanctimonious" -- at least not any more. 
But in the early 1600s, the English adjective was still sometimes used to 
describe someone truly holy or pious (a sense that recalls the meaning of the 
word's Latin parent, "sanctimonia"). Shakespeare used both the "holy" and 
"holier-than-thou" senses in his work, referring in _The Tempest_ to the 
"sanctimonious" (that is, "holy") ceremonies of marriage, and in _Measure for 
Measure_ to describe "the sanctimonious pirate that went to sea with the Ten 
Commandments but scraped one out of the table." (Apparently, the pirate found 
the restriction on stealing a bit too inconvenient.)





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