self-righteous
"self-righteous" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“self-righteous” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 14
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Piously self-assured and smugly moralistic.
Corpus desk
Index EN-self-righteous · self-righteous · English
self-righteous · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 14 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | self-righteous |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 14 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “self-righteous” in English
Rare enough to double-check
self-righteous is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for self-righteous in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From self- + righteous. The correct English form is self-righteous, spelled S-E-L-F---R-I-G-H-T-E-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Piously self-assured and smugly moralistic.
- 2Patronizingly moralizing and rebuking.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how self-righteous appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Near-synonyms: smug, complacent; sanctimonious
And is it not possible, Mr. Hier, that people are reacting (in a contemptible way, certainly) against your self-righteous bawling?
Etymology
From self- + righteous.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.