sanctimoniously
sanctimoniously — adverb
1. behaving or speaking in a self-righteous way that declares you hold higher moral
behaving or speaking in a self-righteous way that declares you hold higher moral standards than everyone around you
Esteban lectured his team sanctimoniously about honesty, yet he had falsified his own reports.
patterns with verb of speech + adverb
Mira sanctimoniously declared at dinner that she never bought food from supermarkets.
The candidate spoke sanctimoniously about family values, but reporters uncovered a very different private life.
Felix shook his head sanctimoniously when the waiter brought the wrong dish.
A blog post sanctimoniously told readers to quit social media, though its author posted daily.
- self-righteously
more general; can describe genuine belief in one's moral correctness
- smugly
emphasises self-satisfaction rather than moral preaching
- piously
stronger religious flavour; not necessarily negative
- hypocritically
focuses on the contradiction between stated values and actual behaviour
用法筆記
Most often pairs with verbs of speech or judgment such as 'lecture', 'declare', 'preach', 'announce', or 'advise'. The adverb adds a critical tone: the speaker or actor is seen as pretending to be morally superior.