Sanctimonious means making a show of being more moral than others. A sanctimonious tone, sanctimonious nonsense, insufferably sanctimonious.
The show is the whole complaint: the word accuses somebody of performing virtue rather than having it. It is one of the most wounding words in English precisely because it cannot be answered without sounding sanctimonious.
1adjectivesanctimoniousMaking a show of being more moral than others.
“I'm tired of his sanctimonious lectures about healthy eating while he smokes all day.”
sanctimonious is a quality.
From sanctimony + -ous.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA