Trending: ‘sanctimonious’

Why are people looking up sanctimonious?

Former president Trump, mocking Florida's governor, used this word as an approximate rhyme for the governor's name on November 6, 2022.

A headline from The Orlando Sentinel shows the new usage:

Trump derides Gov. DeSantis as ‘Ron De-Sanctimonious’

What does sanctimonious mean?

Sanctimonious means "hypocritically pious or devout."

Where does sanctimonious come from?

Sanctimonious was first used in English around 1600, a few decades after sanctimony, which came from a French word that traced back to the Latin word sanctus, meaning "holy."

True to its history, sanctimonious initially meant "holy" ("possessing sanctity") in English, but quickly took on the meaning of making a showy display of holiness that isn't genuine, in order to make others think more highly of you.

Trend Watch is a data-driven report on words people are looking up at much higher search rates than normal. While most trends can be traced back to the news or popular culture, our focus is on the lookup data rather than the events themselves.