self-righteousness

noun

Confidence in one's own righteousness, self-assurance, smugness.

“The book of Job warns us against self-righteousness, since no man can justify himself to God.”

Meanings

noun
  1. Confidence in one's own righteousness, self-assurance, smugness.

    The book of Job warns us against self-righteousness, since no man can justify himself to God.

    2 more examples

    The heroines of these plays speak out against intraracial biases, stereotyping, lynchmobs, illiteracy, poverty, promiscuity, self-righteousness, verbally abusive men, rape, and miscegenation. […] Without warning the doctor, she chokes the life out of her child in order to keep him safe from white lynchmobs.

    1990, Elizabeth Brown-Guillory, “Preface”, in Wines in the Wilderness: Plays by African American Women from the Harlem Renaissance to the Present, New York, N.Y.: Praeger Publishers, →ISBN, page xiv

    There was no tedious self-righteousness on the night of the gala event. The charity auction invited bids for a night out at the Windmill Club (a lapdancing venue in Soho) and a course of plastic surgery, offered as an opportunity to “Add spice to your wife”

    2018 January 25, Amelia Gentleman, “Men-only clubs and menace: how the establishment maintains male power”, in The Guardian

Origin

Translations

Bulgarian самодоволство
  • самодоволство (samodovolstvo)confident in one's own righteousness, self-assured, smug
Dutch zelfgenoegzaamheid, eigengerechtigheid
  • zelfgenoegzaamheidconfident in one's own righteousness, self-assured, smug
  • eigengerechtigheidconfident in one's own righteousness, self-assured, smug
Finnish omahyväisyys
  • omahyväisyysconfident in one's own righteousness, self-assured, smug
French dédain
  • dédainconfident in one's own righteousness, self-assured, smug
German Selbstgerechtigkeit
  • Selbstgerechtigkeitconfident in one's own righteousness, self-assured, smug
Polish pyszałkowatość, przemądrzałość
  • pyszałkowatośćconfident in one's own righteousness, self-assured, smug
  • przemądrzałośćconfident in one's own righteousness, self-assured, smug
  • zarozumiałośćconfident in one's own righteousness, self-assured, smug
Russian самодово́льство
  • самодово́льство (samodovólʹstvo)confident in one's own righteousness, self-assured, smug
Spanish santurronería, fariseísmo
  • santurroneríaconfident in one's own righteousness, self-assured, smug
  • fariseísmoconfident in one's own righteousness, self-assured, smug
  • mojigateríaconfident in one's own righteousness, self-assured, smug
  • mojigatezconfident in one's own righteousness, self-assured, smug
Swedish egenrättfärdighet, självrättfärdighet
  • egenrättfärdighetconfident in one's own righteousness, self-assured, smug
  • självrättfärdighetconfident in one's own righteousness, self-assured, smug
Cite this entry
APA

self-righteousness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-righteousness

MLA

“self-righteousness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-righteousness. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “self-righteousness,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-righteousness.

Source: self-righteousness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.