🛡️ Heraldic wordplay 😏 Hypocritically moral

canting

9.6

Speaking or acting as if morally good but not sincere

adjective
/ˈkæntɪŋ/

Archaic

: hipócrita

The politician's canting speeches failed to convince the public of his honesty.

Examples

The film satirizes the canting attitudes of those who pretend to care about social issues.
She grew tired of her colleague's canting remarks about ethics in the workplace.
His canting remarks about charity felt insincere.
She always uses canting language in her speeches.
The politician's canting speeches made it clear that he was more interested in votes than in real issues.
After hearing his canting comments on morality, she couldn't trust his opinions anymore.
Many people found her canting reflections on kindness to be significantly hypocritical.

Synonyms

hypocritical

vscanting

83 6.1

Acting like you have strong moral rules when you do not follow them

focuses on insincere moral talk and pious display rather than true belief

tartuffian

vscanting

Offensive

9.9

Acting like a good person while not being so

is more about insincere moral speech or pious affectation

Antonyms

sincere

239 2.5

Being honest and showing what you really feel

authentic

218 3.8

Something that is real and trustworthy, not a fake

How Hypocritical

sanctimonious

23 8.5

hypocritical

83 6.1

canting

Archaic

9.6

insincere

19 4.2

Surface Forms

canting positive

Morphology

canting = cant (semi-transparent) = cant + ing

The adjective is built regularly from cant + -ing, but the base word is uncommon and the modern hypocritical sense is somewhat lexicalized.

Etymology

Canting meaning fake moral talk comes from the noun cant, which once meant set or often 'sung' words and later came to mean 'fake talk'. So a canting person uses empty, pretend words instead of honest feeling.