Hypocrite - Dictionary Definition and Overview

Hypocrite :  (noun)

1: a person who professes beliefs and opinions that he does not hold [syn: dissembler, phony, phoney, pretender]

Based on WordNet 2.0

Hypocrite : \Hyp"o*crite\, n. [F., fr. L. hypocrita, Gr. ? one who plays a part on the stage, a dissembler, feigner. See Hypocrisy.] One who plays a part; especially, one who, for the purpose of winning approbation of favor, puts on a fair outside seeming; one who feigns to be other and better than he is; a false pretender to virtue or piety; one who simulates virtue or piety.

The hypocrite's hope shall perish. --Job viii. 13.

I dare swear he is no hypocrite, but prays from his heart. --Shak.

Syn: Deceiver; pretender; cheat. See Dissembler.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

Hypocrite :  one who puts on a mask and feigns himself to be what he is not; a dissembler in religion. Our Lord severely rebuked the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy (Matt. 6:2, 5, 16). "The hypocrite's hope shall perish" (Job 8:13). The Hebrew word here rendered "hypocrite" rather means the "godless" or "profane," as it is rendered in Jer. 23:11, i.e., polluted with crimes.



Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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