: a person who is excessively or priggishly attentive to propriety or decorum
especially
: a woman who shows or affects extreme modesty
Examples of prude in a Sentence
He is too much of a prude to enjoy movies containing sex and violence.
the racy sitcom frequently satirizes exactly the sort of prude who would like to see the show taken off the air
Recent Examples on the Web
Give the Original ‘Twister’ a Spin Barbara Peeters is no prude.
—
Sarah Shachat, IndieWire, 19 July 2024
Despite a handful of prudes trying their best to spoil the fun.
—Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 4 July 2024
Not that Fierstein suddenly became a prude.
—Vulture, 25 Apr. 2022
This does not necessarily me a narc or a prude.
—Eben Weiss, Outside Online, 9 Nov. 2022
Only a zealous prude could fully discount the entertainment in Oedipal friction, a source of narrative irony since, well, the myth of Oedipus.
—Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 19 Jan. 2023
Everyone supports her but her boyfriend, who initially accuses her of being a prude.
—Ilana Kaplan, Vulture, 27 Mar. 2022
Yet writers are eager to join in the jokes about the humorless prude who wants to stifle academic freedom, rather than trying to understand the whole story.
—Elizabeth Preston, Discover Magazine, 7 Dec. 2010
In life, there is little evidence that Dickens was, in the context of his time and place, a sexist or a prude.
—The New Yorker, 28 Feb. 2022
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Sarah Shachat, IndieWire, 19 July 2024
Despite a handful of prudes trying their best to spoil the fun.
—Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 4 July 2024
Not that Fierstein suddenly became a prude.
—Vulture, 25 Apr. 2022
This does not necessarily me a narc or a prude.
—Eben Weiss, Outside Online, 9 Nov. 2022
Only a zealous prude could fully discount the entertainment in Oedipal friction, a source of narrative irony since, well, the myth of Oedipus.
—Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 19 Jan. 2023
Everyone supports her but her boyfriend, who initially accuses her of being a prude.
—Ilana Kaplan, Vulture, 27 Mar. 2022
Yet writers are eager to join in the jokes about the humorless prude who wants to stifle academic freedom, rather than trying to understand the whole story.
—Elizabeth Preston, Discover Magazine, 7 Dec. 2010
In life, there is little evidence that Dickens was, in the context of his time and place, a sexist or a prude.
—The New Yorker, 28 Feb. 2022
Cite this Entry
“Prude.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prude. Accessed 3 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
prude
noun
: a person who is easily shocked or offended by things that do not shock or offend others
prudish
adjective
ˈprüd-ish
prudishly
adverb
prudishness
noun
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