Pecksniffian

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Marked by an attitude of self-satisfaction and moral superiority, typically hiding hypocrisy beneath a veneer of righteousness
2. Exhibiting a false sense of virtue and ethical posturing, often masking insincerity and selfish motives
3. Characterized by an ostentatious display of morality and self-righteousness, often concealing one's own hypocrisy and self-interest

Etymology: Seth Pecksniff is the hypocritical architect in Charles Dickens's novel "Martin Chuzzlewit," and his name has outlived the book as a byword for sanctimonious pretence. Dickens built the character around a mismatch between speech and conduct: Pecksniff is forever professing piety, kindness and virtue while cheating, flattering and exploiting the people around him. The novel's satire is so pointed that his name became the basis for a new adjective. "Pecksniffian" is formed by adding the suffix "-ian" to "Pecksniff," the same pattern that produces adjectives such as "Dickensian" from a writer's name. It describes behaviour, speech or attitudes that display a false show of moral goodness, the kind of smug, self-congratulating righteousness that Dickens's character embodied. The word therefore carries the novel's central joke into everyday criticism: when someone is condemned as Pecksniffian, the accusation is that their virtue is a performance.