righteous

righteous — adjective

1. behaving in a way that follows strong moral or religious principles about what i

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

behaving in a way that follows strong moral or religious principles about what is good and right, especially by treating people fairly and refusing to do wrong things.

Example

Haruto is known as a righteous judge who always puts fairness above personal gain.

righteous + noun for a person with strong morals

Wei refused to lie about the mistake because his righteous beliefs would not allow it.

Common collocations
  • righteous person
  • righteous man
  • righteous woman
  • righteous life
  • righteous cause
  • righteous act
  • righteous principles
  • righteous behaviour
Synonyms
  • virtuous

    more formal and general; focuses on having high moral character rather than following specific principles

  • upright

    emphasises honesty and strong moral integrity in everyday behaviour

  • ethical

    more about following professional or social rules of conduct than personal moral conviction

Antonyms
  • wicked

    opposite in moral quality; describes someone who is deliberately evil or cruel

  • immoral

    general opposite; describes actions or people that break moral rules

Grammar Patterns

righteous + noun (person, cause, life, act)

Common Mistakes

He is a very righteous person, always telling others they are wrong.
He acts like a self-righteous person, always telling others they are wrong.
'righteous' describes genuine moral goodness; 'self-righteous' describes a show of superiority that annoys others.

2. showing in your words or behaviour that you think you are morally better than ot

2.adjectiveC1
Definition

showing in your words or behaviour that you think you are morally better than other people, usually in a way that annoys or offends them.

Example

Esteban's righteous tone during the meeting made everyone feel judged and uncomfortable.

negative connotation: righteous tone / righteous attitude

Sophia rolled her eyes at her aunt's righteous comments about young people's fashion choices.

Common collocations
  • righteous tone
  • righteous attitude
  • righteous comments
  • righteous lectures
  • righteous anger (sarcastic)
  • righteous indignation (sarcastic)
Synonyms
  • self-righteous

    more direct and common synonym for this negative sense

  • sanctimonious

    more formal and strongly negative; suggests false or exaggerated piety

  • holier-than-thou

    informal and colloquial; emphasises the attitude of being morally above others

Antonyms
  • humble

    opposite attitude — not thinking oneself better than others

  • modest

    describes someone who does not boast about their own goodness

Grammar Patterns

righteous + noun (tone, attitude, comment)

Usage Note

This sense carries a strong negative meaning — it criticises someone for acting morally superior. Do not use it as a compliment. For the neutral or positive meaning of following moral principles, use sense 1 (MORALLY CORRECT) instead. The word 'self-righteous' is a more direct and common alternative.

Common Mistakes

My grandmother is a very righteous woman who gives to charity.' (when you mean morally good)
My grandmother is a very righteous woman who gives to charity.
This is correct IF you mean genuine moral goodness. But ❌ 'My grandmother is a righteous woman who always criticises my clothes.' ✅ 'My grandmother is a self-righteous woman who always criticises my clothes.' — When the behaviour is annoying or shows superiority, use 'self-righteous' to avoid confusion.

3. felt or expressed because of a strong and sincere belief that something is moral

3.adjectiveC1
Definition

felt or expressed because of a strong and sincere belief that something is morally wrong or unfair — used mainly with words that describe anger or a sense of injustice.

Example

When the factory dumped waste into the river, the community responded with righteous anger.

collocation: righteous anger / righteous indignation / righteous fury

The newspaper article was full of righteous fury about the government's school funding cuts.

Common collocations
  • righteous anger
  • righteous indignation
  • righteous fury
  • righteous outrage
Synonyms
  • justified

    broader in meaning; can describe any reasonable reaction or action, not just moral outrage

  • justifiable

    focuses on whether the emotion is reasonable, rather than the emotion itself

Grammar Patterns

righteous + emotion noun (anger, indignation, fury, outrage)

Usage Note

Almost exclusively used with nouns expressing strong negative emotions triggered by injustice: 'anger,' 'indignation,' 'fury,' and 'outrage.' Do not use it with positive emotions such as 'happiness' or 'joy' — combinations like 'righteous joy' are not natural English.

Common Mistakes

She felt righteous happiness when her team won the match.
She felt righteous indignation when the referee made a bad call against her team.
'righteous' before an emotion noun is only used for anger at injustice, not for positive feelings.

righteous — noun

Word family

  • righteousness
    nounB2
  • righteously
    adverbC1
  • self-righteous
    adjectiveC1
  • self-righteousness
    nounC1
  • unrighteous
    adjectiveC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

'Righteous' is the strongest of these four words — it describes someone who follows moral or religious principles with deep conviction, often in contexts where right and wrong are clearly divided. 'Virtuous' is more formal and suggests a general quality of moral excellence, though it can sound old-fashioned in everyday conversation. 'Upright' focuses on honesty and strong integrity in practical, daily behaviour — an upright person keeps promises and tells the truth even when it costs them. 'Ethical' is the most neutral and professional term, commonly used in business, medicine, and law to describe decisions that follow a code of conduct. For example, you would call a judge who always applies the law fairly 'righteous,' a friend who never cheats on taxes 'upright,' and a company that treats workers well 'ethical.' A 'virtuous' person is one who actively seeks to do good things, not just avoid bad ones.

righteous ↗virtuousupright ↗ethical ↗

Common collocations

Adverbs

  • righteously

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

'Righteous' comes from Old English 'rihtwīs,' a combination of 'riht' (meaning 'right' or 'just') and 'wīs' (meaning 'wise' or 'in the manner of'). So originally it meant 'right in manner or conduct.' Over time, the spelling shifted from 'rightwise' to 'righteous' because people associated the ending with words like 'bounteous' and 'beauteous.' The noun form 'righteousness' appeared around the same period and became a key term in religious writings, especially in translations of the Bible.