[phar.i.see] n [ME pharise, fr. OE farise, fr. LL pharisaeus, fr. Gk pharisaios, fr. Aram perishayya, pl. of perisha, lit., separated] (bef. 12c) 1 cap: a member of a Jewish sect of the intertestamental period noted for strict observance of rites and ceremonies of the written law and for insistence on the validity of their own oral traditions concerning the law
2: a pharisaical person