as in moralist
a person who is greatly concerned with seemly behavior and morality especially regarding sexual matters
some of the town's puritans still maintain that sex education has no place in the schools
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Recent Examples of puritan
However, rather than blithely dismiss the consequences of legalization with eye-rolling contempt for the puritans, supporters should confront the adverse societal effects of cannabis — the pervasive urban stench, the traffic deaths and the pernicious effects on youth.
—
Cory Franklin,
Chicago Tribune,
12 Jan. 2026
Cory Franklin,
Chicago Tribune,
12 Jan. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for puritan
Noun
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Twenty years ago, moralists tried to strong arm a Texas private school into removing Annie Proulx’s sensitive story Brokeback Mountain from its curriculum.
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Carney is a moralist, a filmmaker of fidelity—and of renunciation, depicting the romantic near-misses and what-ifs that his characters leave behind.
Noun
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Martha didn’t want to be a prude.
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In fact, the prudes among us might need hand fans.
Noun
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Fowler certainly was a moralizer, just maybe not in the way Jespersen meant.
Cite this Entry
“Puritan.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/puritan. Accessed 2 Jul. 2026.
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