Holy Willie
- noun
- Offensive
:
santurrón
- He was known as a Holy Willie for his holier-than-thou attitude.
Examples
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Ever since she joined the committee, she's become the group's Holy Willie.
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Don't be such a Holy Willie about their lifestyle choices.
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Don't be such a Holy Willie; nobody likes being constantly judged.
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Many people find Holy Willies intolerable in discussions.
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Don't be such a Holy Willie; nobody likes being constantly judged.
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He was known as a Holy Willie for his holier-than-thou attitude.
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Ever since she joined the committee, she's become the group's Holy Willie.
Synonyms
150
5.6
A person who says they have good morals but does not follow them
1
9.9
A person who judges others while not following the same rules
Surface Forms
Morphology
Holy + Willie
The element 'holy' clearly signals religiosity or piety, so a learner who knows the words could infer the phrase refers to a religious or pious person; however 'Willie' is just a proper name and gives no semantic help, and the specific pejorative sense of hypocritical self-righteousness is culturally loaded and not fully predictable from the parts. Because part of the meaning (pious person) is transparent but the negative, idiomatic nuance requires exposure, the expression is best classed as semi-transparent.
Etymology
Holy Willie comes from an old Scottish poem by Robert Burns that made fun of a church leader called Willie who acted very holy but secretly judged others. So, Holy Willie today means someone who is 'hypocritically self-righteous', a person who pretends to be very religious while judging others.