hypocrisy/false modesty

Question

We often resort to hypocrisy/false modesty in order not to hurt people's feelings in their presence.

For me, the two terms are pretty close in meaning, and I'd like to test if they are interchangeable. I presume "hypocrisy" implies negative meanings while "false modesty" doesn't. Correct me if I am wrong. Thanks.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

We often resort to hypocrisy/false modesty in order not to hurt people's feelings in their presence.

For me, the two terms are pretty close in meaning, and I'd like to test if they are interchangeable. I presume "hypocrisy" implies negative meanings while "false modesty" doesn't. Correct me if I am wrong. Thanks.

Hypocrisy - Relates to pretending to have feelings, principles, morals that are not your own.

False modesty - Relates to pretending to be modest, but doing it in a way that shows people you really have feelings that are not modest, feelings of pride.

These terms don't really seem very close to me. The most you could argue is that false modesty may be seen as one of many ways that one can be a hypocrite.

'Hypocrisy' is a much more serious accusation than 'false modesty', which is a relatively minor fault. That's why the use of the term 'hypocrisy' in your sample sentence seems rather harsh and inappropriate. At the same time, I don't think 'false modesty' really fits the meaning, either, because people are not usually falsely modest for the purpose of being kind to others.

Best wishes, Clive

Angliholic · Answer

Thanks, Clive.

You put it well and right, and I think my sample is not a good one.

hypocrisy/false modesty

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