Hypocrite Meaning, Plus Hypocrisy and Hypocritical

What does hypocrisy mean?

A good definition of hypocrisy has two parts. First, a person states a standard, either by telling others to follow it or by presenting themselves as someone who does. Second, they break that same standard, often while still judging others for breaking it. The second part is what turns ordinary failure into hypocrisy.

Everyone falls short of their ideals sometimes. A person who says "I try to eat healthy" and then has cake is not a hypocrite. A person who lectures colleagues about junk food and then hides a drawer full of sweets is closer to the mark, because they hold others to a rule they excuse for themselves.

Hypocrite meaning and the related forms

A hypocrite definition in one line: someone who pretends to have virtues, beliefs or standards that they do not really have. The hypocritical meaning follows from that: showing this kind of pretense.

Examples in sentences

• It felt hypocritical when the coach told us to be on time and then showed up twenty minutes late.
• My brother calls me a hypocrite because I complain about phone use at dinner while checking mine.
• The report pointed to the hypocrisy of a company that ran green ads while dumping waste in the river.
• She admitted, laughing, that her advice to save money was a bit hypocritical after her shopping trip.

From stage actor to pretender

The history explains the meaning well. In ancient Greek, hypokritēs was a stage actor, and hypokrisis meant acting a part. Over time the idea of playing a role on stage became the idea of playing a false role in life. The words reached English around the year 1200 through Old French and Church Latin, first spelled without the h, as ipocrisie and ypocrite. Early uses were religious: a hypocrite was someone who pretended to be holy or good.

Hypocrisy next to lying, double standards and more

Several words sit near hypocrisy but are not the same.

• Lying is saying something false. Hypocrisy is about a gap between a stated standard and behavior, even if no single statement is a lie.
• Double standard is a rule applied unfairly to different people. It can be a form of hypocrisy when the person setting it exempts themselves.
• Inconsistency is a wider, softer word for actions that do not match. It does not always suggest pretense.
• Self-righteousness is acting morally superior, and it can look condescending. It often comes with hypocrisy but can exist without it.

The idea also connects with irony, since the gap between word and deed can look ironic, and with being pretentious, which is about pretending to be more than you are.

Using the word fairly

Calling someone a hypocrite is a serious charge, and in arguments it can become a way to dodge the point. If a smoker tells you smoking is harmful, they may be a hypocrite, but they are not wrong about the facts. Thinkers call that move, rejecting an argument because the speaker does not follow it, an appeal to hypocrisy. It is worth separating two questions: is the advice sound, and does the person follow it?

In daily talk, softer phrasing often works better: "that seems a bit inconsistent" can open a conversation where "you hypocrite" will close it. Character words such as integrity and vanity have their own pages; start at the everyday vocabulary hub and browse.