It's Merriam-Webster's word of the day for July 24th.

Today's word is sanctimonious, spelled S-A-N-C-T-I-M-O-N-I-O-U-S.

Sanctimonious is an adjective.

Someone described as sanctimonious behaves as though they are

morally superior to others. Language or behavior that suggests the same kind of

moral superiority can also be described as sanctimonious.

Here's the word used in a sentence from variety.

Smart and sincere but never sanctimonious, the awareness-raising drama doubles as a public service message of sorts. There's nothing sacred about the word sanctimonious, at least not anymore. But in the early 1600s the English

adjective was still sometimes used to describe someone truly wholly or

pious, a sense at an important remove from today's use, describing someone who acts or behaves

as though they are morally superior to others.

The now obsolete Pius sense recalls the meaning of the words Latin parent sanctimonia

meaning holiness or sanctity. Shakespeare used both the holy and holier than thou senses of sanctimonious in his work, referring in the tempest to the sanctimonious,

that is the holy ceremonies of marriage, and in measure for measure to the sanctimonious pirate that went to sea with the 10

commandments but scraped one out of the table.

Apparently the pirate found the restriction on stealing inconvenient.

With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.

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