sententious.

Given to solemn, compressed moral pronouncements, often with a self-important tone.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• sententious remark
• sententious tone

On the page

He ended every discussion with a sententious remark about duty.

Her sententious tone made even good advice difficult to accept.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary. Forms: Comparative more sententious; superlative most sententious. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.