sanctimonious
[adjective]

[schijn-hei-lig]

“Schijnheilig” is composed of “schijn” and “heilig”, which respectively translate to “appearance” and “holy”. Hence people who are “schijnheilig” keep up the appearance to be holy, while they’re not 🙂

Related adjectives are “hypocriet” and “huichelachtig”. Both are translated with “hypocritical”.

Examples:
– “Er zijn veel schijnheilige mensen in de wereld.” 
(“There are a lot of sanctimonious people in the world.”)

– “De huldiging van de voormalige minister-president was een schijnheilige vertoning. Hij heeft het land in een ernstige crisis gebracht.” 
(“The honouring of the former prime-minister was a hypocritical show. He has brought the country into a serious crisis.”)

Expressions:
– “Mooi weer spelen”: to pretend nothing has happened/everything is fine, to put on a show of
friendliness.

Example:
– “Wat een schijnheilig optreden
van Frank vanochtend. Hij klaagt altijd, maar naar zijn baas speelt hij
mooi weer.”

(“What a sanctimonious
performance by Frank this morning. He’s always complaining, but towards
his boss he pretends everything is fine.”)

 – “Schone schijn”: keeping up appearances. (See also Extra)

Related words:
– Schijn: 1. appearance, semblance [noun] [de schijn, <no plural>]. 2. shine [noun] [de schijn, <no plural>].
– Heilig: holy [adjective].

Example:
– “De Heilige Maagd Maria.”
(“The Holy Virgin Mary.”)

– Hypocriet: 1. hypocrite [noun] [de hypocriet, de hypocrieten]. 2. hypocritical [adjective].
– Huichelen: to simulate, to feign [verb] [huichelen, huichelde, h. gehuicheld].
– Huichelachtig: hyporcritical [adjective].
– Veinzen: to feign [verb] [veinzen, veinsde, h. geveinsd].