pecksniff means A very hypocritical person. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.
Why “pecksniff” is a great word
PECKSNIFF — [Noun] A hypocritical person who ostentatiously professes high moral principles while acting in a self-serving or deceitful manner. From Seth Pecksniff, a sanctimonious and hypocritical character in Charles Dickens's novel 'Martin Chuzzlewit' (1844). The term is first attested as a common noun in 1903, in a letter by George Bernard Shaw. Unlike “pharisee,” which roots hypocrisy in religious observance, or “Tartuffe,” another theatrical avatar of pious fraud, a Pecksniff traffics in a secular, professional cant of virtue. He is the damp handshake of a grasping benefactor, the unblinking gaze of a developer quoting civic beauty while demolishing a heritage district, the greasy residue of sentiment left after a shrewd business deal—a monument to the small, cold betrayal that masquerades as principle.
Etymology
Seth Pecksniff, a sanctimonious surveyor and architect “who has never designed or built anything”, appears in Charles Dickens's novel Martin Chuzzlewit (1844).
noun
- A very hypocritical person.