Pecksniffian

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The Word of the Day for December 10 is:

Pecksniffian   \pek-SNIFF-ee-un\   adjective
     : unctuously hypocritical : sanctimonious

Example sentence:
     "His book suffers from excessively long harangues against Pecksniffian 
prigs and temperance types who, he claims, are still trying to ruin our fun." 
(Mark D. Fefer, _Seattle Weekly_, January 22, 2003)

Did you know?
     Seth Pecksniff, a character with a holier-than-thou attitude in Charles 
Dickens's 1844 novel _Martin Chuzzlewit_, was no angel, though he certainly 
tried to pass himself off as one. Pecksniff liked to preach morality and brag 
about his own virtue, but in reality he was a deceptive rascal who would use 
any means to advance his own selfish interests. It didn't take long for 
Pecksniff's reputation for canting sanctimoniousness to leave its mark on 
English; "Pecksniffian" has been used as a synonym of "hypocritical" since 1849.






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