Meanings
comparative more righteous · superlative most righteous · alternative rightuous · alternative rightwise
- Free from sin or guilt.
The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bolde as a lyon.
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 28:1Synonyms: guiltless, sinless, blameless, clean, clean-handed, clean as a hound's tooth, clean as a whistle, clear
- USslangAwesome; great.
The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, dickheads - they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude.
1986, John Hughes, Ferris Bueller's Day Off (Motion Picture), spoken by Grace Wheelberg (Edie McClurg)2 more examples
He sold me a bulging paper sack full of Cambodian Red for two dolla' MPC. A strange experience, copping from a kid, but it was righteous weed.
1995, Norman L. Russell, Doug Grad, Suicide Charlie: A Vietnam War Story, page 191Tonight the kids will go out and party down in a more righteous mode. Alcohol and not a few tabs of X will be ingested. Club music will throb through big speakers.
2008, Stephen King, Graduation AfternoonSynonyms: dope, lit, wicked, amazing, astounding, awe-inspiring, awesome, awful
- USslangMajor; large; significant.
He found Richard in one piece near a large circular container, thankfully, staring at a righteous mess of blood and gore.
2021, G. S. Jennsen, Amaranthe V: RivenSynonyms: considerable
present singular third person righteouses · participle present righteousing · participle past righteoused · past righteoused · alternative rightuous · alternative rightwise
- To make righteous; specifically, to justify religiously, to absolve from sin.
Thus for the purposes of being ‘righteoused’, the Law was irrelevant; yet Paul could not bear to see all the Law disappear.
2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 101
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveFree from sin or guilt.
adjectiveMoral and virtuous, perhaps to the point of sanctimony.
adjectiveAwesome; great.
adjectiveMajor; large; significant.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivecharacterized by or proceeding from accepted standards of morality or justice
adjectivemorally justified
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Englishrihtwīs“righteous, just”
- Middle Englishrightwise
- Englishrighteous
From earlier rightuous, rightwose, rightwos, rightwise, from Middle English rightwise, rightwis, from Old English rihtwīs (“righteous, just”), corresponding to right + -wise (with assimilation of second element to -ous), or to right + wise (“way, manner”). Cognate with Scots richtwis (“righteous”), Old High German rehtwīsic (“righteous, just”), Icelandic réttvíss (“righteous, just”). Compare also thefteous, mighteous.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek δίκαιος
- δίκαιος (díkaios)free from sin or guilt
Arabic صَالِح, صَالِح
- صَالِح (ṣāliḥ)free from sin or guilt
- صَالِح (ṣāliḥ)moral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- صَالِح (ṣāliḥ)justified morally
Bulgarian праведен, добродетелен
- праведен (praveden)free from sin or guilt
- добродетелен (dobrodetelen)moral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- справедлив (spravedliv)justified morally
Czech nevinný, ctnostný
- nevinnýfree from sin or guilt
- ctnostnýfree from sin or guilt
- počestnýmoral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- spravedlivýjustified morally
Dutch onschuldig, rechtschapen
- onschuldigfree from sin or guilt
- rechtschapenfree from sin or guilt
- deugdzaammoral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- rechtvaardigjustified morally
Finnish synnitön, oikeamielinen
- synnitönfree from sin or guilt
- oikeamielinenmoral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- vanhurskasmoral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- oikeutettujustified morally
French juste, moral
- justefree from sin or guilt
- moralmoral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- justemoral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
German rechtschaffen, redlich
- rechtschaffenfree from sin or guilt
- redlichmoral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- rechtschaffenmoral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- tugendsammoral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- tugendhaftmoral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- gerechtjustified morally
- gerechtfertigtjustified morally
Hebrew צדיק, צדיק
- צדיקfree from sin or guilt
- צדיקfree from sin or guilt
- צדיקהfree from sin or guilt
Hungarian igaz, derék
- igazfree from sin or guilt
- derékfree from sin or guilt
- jóravalófree from sin or guilt
- becsületesfree from sin or guilt
- tisztességesfree from sin or guilt
- erényesmoral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- erkölcsösmoral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- jogosjustified morally
- érthetőjustified morally
- indokoltjustified morally
Italian immacolato, intemerato
- immacolatofree from sin or guilt
- intemeratomoral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- virtuosomoral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- giustificatojustified morally
- legittimojustified morally
Māori tapatahi, tapatahi
- tapatahifree from sin or guilt
- tapatahimoral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
Norwegian Bokmål rettferdig, rettvis
- rettferdigmoral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- rettvismoral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- rettferdigjustified morally
Persian درستکار
- درستکار (dorostkâr)free from sin or guilt
Portuguese inocente, digno
- inocentefree from sin or guilt
- dignomoral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- justojustified morally
Romanian neprihănit, neprihănită
- neprihănitfree from sin or guilt
- neprihănităfree from sin or guilt
Russian доброде́тельный, пра́ведный
- доброде́тельный (dobrodételʹnyj)free from sin or guilt
- пра́ведный (právednyj)free from sin or guilt
- благочести́вый (blagočestívyj)moral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- доброде́тельный (dobrodételʹnyj)moral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- пра́ведный (právednyj)moral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- справедли́вый (spravedlívyj)justified morally
- опра́вданный (oprávdannyj)justified morally
Spanish inmaculado, inocente
- inmaculadofree from sin or guilt
- inocentefree from sin or guilt
- inmaculadomoral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- santomoral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- beatomoral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- rectomoral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- honradomoral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- correctojustified morally
- bienhechorjustified morally
- justojustified morally
- justificadojustified morally
Swedish rättskaffens, rättfärdig
- rättskaffensfree from sin or guilt
- rättfärdigfree from sin or guilt
- rättfärdigmoral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- rättfärdigjustified morally
Ukrainian праведний, доброчесний
- праведний (pravednyj)free from sin or guilt
- доброчесний (dobročesnyj)free from sin or guilt
- праведний (pravednyj)moral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- доброчесний (dobročesnyj)moral and virtuous, to the point of sanctimonious
- справедливий (spravedlyvyj)justified morally
Cite this entry
righteous. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/righteous
“righteous.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/righteous. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “righteous,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/righteous.
Source: righteous on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.