hypocrisy

/həˈpɑkrəsi/

/hɪˈpɒkrəsi/

Other forms: hypocrisies

People who tell you not to eat candy while they chomp away on licorice all day? People who say they hate cars but always beg you for a ride? They are engaging in hypocrisy, or behavior that is different from what they say they believe.

A hypocrite is a person who practices hypocrisy: what they say is not what they do. The noun hypocrisy descends from the Greek hypokrisis "acting on a stage," from hypokrinesthai "to play a part, pretend," from the prefix hypo- "under" plus krinein "to judge." Many times kids are enraged by their parents' hypocrisy when parents make their children follow rules they don't follow themselves.

Definitions of hypocrisy

1. noun

   insincerity by virtue of pretending to have qualities or beliefs that you do not really have
   types:

   sanctimoniousness, sanctimony

   the quality of being hypocritically devout

   fulsomeness, oiliness, oleaginousness, smarminess, unction, unctuousness

   smug self-serving earnestness

   type of:

   falseness, hollowness, insincerity

   the quality of not being open or truthful; deceitful or hypocritical
2. noun

   an expression of agreement that is not supported by real conviction
   synonyms: lip service

   types:

   crocodile tears

   a hypocritical display of sorrow; false or insincere weeping

   type of:

   dissembling, feigning, pretence, pretense

   pretending with intention to deceive