What does hypocrisy mean?
Word: Hypocrisy
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Hypocrisy means pretending to have beliefs or good qualities that you do not really have, or telling others to do what you do not do yourself.
Synonyms: insincerity, pretence, falseness, double standards
Antonyms: honesty
How do you spell hypocrisy?
Syllables: hy - poc - ri - sy
Tricky part: It ends in crisy, not cracy as in democracy. The first vowel is y, so hipocrisy is wrong too.
Watch out for: hypocracy, hipocrisy, hypocricy
Memory tip: It is not a kind of government, so it does not end like democracy. Think of the person, a hypocrite, and keep the same cri in the middle.
Hypocrisy in a sentence
Example 1: It is hypocrisy to tell others to save water while you leave the tap running.
Example 2: The students pointed out the hypocrisy of a rule that only they had to follow.
Example 3: He hated hypocrisy and always did what he asked of others.
Fun Fact
In ancient Greek theatre, the word that gave us hypocrisy meant playing a part on stage; only later did it come to mean pretending to be good.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word hypocrisy as used in the sentence:
The newspaper accused the minister of hypocrisy for flying abroad while asking people to holiday at home.
a) deceit
b) sincerity
c) laziness
d) jealousy
Show answer
b) sincerity. Deceit is close to hypocrisy, and jealousy and laziness are other faults; sincerity means meaning what you say.
Spell-o-Spell
Three of these words are spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word:
1. cowardice 2. hypocrisy 3. dishonesty 4. arrogence
a) a feeling of being better than others
b) preaching good behaviour you do not practise yourself
c) lack of courage in the face of danger
d) a lack of honesty, such as lying or cheating
Show answer
a) a feeling of being better than others. Arrogant gives arrogance, with an a in the ending, so arrogence is the misspelt word.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
Voters were tired of the ysoyrpich of leaders who praised public buses but never rode one.
a) philosophy
b) hypocrisy
c) prophecy
d) hypothesis
Show answer
b) hypocrisy. Hypothesis has no c, prophecy has a second p and an e, and philosophy an l and a second o.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
hyppocrisy
a) y
b) c
c) o
d) p
Show answer
d) p. There is a single p, from the Greek hypo, meaning 'under'.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which is an example of hypocrisy?
a) a teacher who comes to class on time daily
b) a boy who says sorry after breaking a cup
c) a girl who keeps a promise to her friend
d) a coach who bans junk food but eats chips daily
Show answer
d) a coach who bans junk food but eats chips daily
2. A person who truly hates hypocrisy will ____.
a) ask others to work while they rest
b) praise honesty but tell small lies
c) make strict rules only for others
d) follow the rules they set for others
Show answer
d) follow the rules they set for others
