PHARISAICAL • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Pharisaical

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adjective

Pharisaical, Pharisaic adj.

Of or pertaining to the Pharisees; resembling the Pharisees. "The Pharisaic sect among the Jews."

Hence: Addicted to external forms and ceremonies; making a show of religion without the spirit of it; ceremonial; formal; hypocritical; self-righteous. "Excess of outward and pharisaical holiness." "Pharisaical ostentation."

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Etymology of 'Pharisaical'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Pharisaical" Quotes from Famous Books

... every member (if she ever gets as far as this) of every ladies' club will here draw her pharisaical skirts about her and ...

— Leonie of the Jungle • Joan Conquest

... ones here and there, whose hearts God will touch; but you will find that the greater part of the children will not be made better at all; you will find that the cleverer, and more tender-hearted will be made conceited, Pharisaical, self-deceiving (for children are as ready to deceive themselves, and play the hypocrite to their own consciences, as grown people are); they will catch up cant words and phrases, or little outward forms of reverence, and make a religion ...

— Sermons for the Times • Charles Kingsley

... lapse of years nor change of scene had mitigated the enmities which Francis had brought back from the East. After his usual fashion, he mistook his malevolence for virtue, nursed it, as preachers tell us we ought to nurse our good dispositions, and paraded it, on all occasions, with Pharisaical ostentation." ...

— Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 10 - The Guide • Charles Herbert Sylvester

... to corruption in high ones. They did not dare to utter a feeble squeak until some giant had accidentally fallen and they could do so without danger to themselves. Then, O Heavens, the palaver! What beatings of tom-toms! What mouthings of pharisaical moralities—platitudes! Run now, good people, for you may see clearly how evil is dealt with in high places! It made him smile. Such hypocrisy! Such cant! Still, so the world was organized, and it was not for him to ...

— The Financier • Theodore Dreiser

... unintentionally, the short story is a great factor for good. The world is weary of the bald sermons of the Puritans, and of their endeavor to "point a tale" by every ordinary occurrence; it is rather inclined to a Pharisaical self-righteousness; and needs to have its sins, and the practical benefits of goodness, cunningly insinuated; but it can never fail to admire and strive to emulate the noble deeds of noble men, whether creatures of flesh or phantoms of the brain. To be sure, many of our best short stories deal with ...

— Short Story Writing - A Practical Treatise on the Art of The Short Story • Charles Raymond Barrett

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