Pharisee
['færisi:]
Definition
(noun.) a member of an ancient Jewish sect noted for strict obedience to Jewish traditions.
(noun.) a self-righteous or sanctimonious person.
Typed by Bernadine--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) One of a sect or party among the Jews, noted for a strict and formal observance of rites and ceremonies and of the traditions of the elders, and whose pretensions to superior sanctity led them to separate themselves from the other Jews.
Inputed by Clinton
Definition
n. one of a religious school among the Jews marked by their strict observance of the law and of religious ordinances: any one more careful of the outward forms than of the spirit of religion a formalist.—adjs. Pharisā′ic -al pertaining to or like the Pharisees: hypocritical.—adv. Pharisā′ically.—ns. Pharisā′icalness; Phar′isāism Phar′iseeism the practice and opinions of the Pharisees: strict observance of outward forms in religion without the spirit of it: hypocrisy.
Edited by Kathleen
Examples
- Her religion must have been that of the Pharisee who thanked God that he was not as other men are, nor even as that publican. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Between the Mussulman and the Pharisee, commend me to the first! Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist.
- To pluck the mask from the face of the Pharisee, is not to lift an impious hand to the Crown of Thorns. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- More than any other fetish it has ruined our sense of political values by glorifying the pharisee with his vain cruelty to individuals and his unfounded approval of himself. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands? H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Are we only Pharisees after all? Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
Checked by Hank