sanctimommy

sanctimommy

English

Etymology

Blend of sanctimony +‎ mommy.

Noun

sanctimommy (plural sanctimommies)

1. (Canada, US, informal, derogatory) A mother who exhibits a superior attitude and openly judges others' parenting.
   • 2009, Liz Gumbinner, "Type B Mom", in See Mom Run: Side-Splitting Essays from the World's Most Harried Blogging Moms (ed. Beth Feldman), Plain White Press (2009), →ISBN, page 140:

     I'm late for pediatrician appointments. I can't make straight parts in my girls' hair. I forget to send them in the snow with hats, as the kind sanctimommies of the neighborhood are delighted to point out with their eyebrows raised as far as Botox will allow.

   • 2010, Colin Sokolowski, The Accidental Adult: Essays and Advice for the Reluctantly Responsible and Marginally Mature, Adams Media (2010), →ISBN, page 104:

     She even has to endure the occasional judgments from sanctimommies—women who are much, much better mothers than Kelly and who sometimes wonder aloud, "Why can't her kids swim yet?" or "Why is she drinking a glass of wine at her daughter's birthday party?" (God no!)

   • 2012, Allison Kaplan Sommer, "Mayim Bialik: When an attachment parent detaches from her marriage", Haaretz, 26 November 2012:

     But Waldman’s reaction spoke for any vulnerable young mother holding a bottle subjected in public to a drive-by comment from the lactation police that “breast is best,” or, who, desperate for a few consecutive hours of sleep, let her child cry for ten minutes in her crib before settling, was made to feel as though she had subjected her offspring of child abuse, by one of the Bialik-style “sanctimommies.”

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:sanctimommy.