as in stick-in-the-mud
informal + disapproving
a person (such as a child) whose good behavior and politeness are annoying because they seem to be excessive or not sincere
The other kids don't like her because she's a goody-goody.
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Dissimilar Words
1
as in pious
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Dissimilar Words
2
as in priggish
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of goody-goody
Karen D'souza, The Mercury News, 31 Aug. 2024
But the tension between evil Max and goody-goody Pippa makes my heart do backflips.
—Fletcher Peters, Vulture, 1 Aug. 2024
Gwen Grastorf’s embodiment of the scheming goody-goody Arsinoë is a tad stagy, but the character is still a fine foil for the quick-witted Célimène.
—Celia Wren, Washington Post, 4 May 2023
The Trump rule presumed these goody-goody considerations got in the way of profitability and that a retirement adviser who accommodated them couldn’t fulfill his professional responsibility to maximize his client’s return.
—Timothy Noah, The New Republic, 3 Mar. 2023
Adjective
This somewhat spotty touring production stars Lauren Samuels as the misunderstood villain Elphaba and Austen Danielle Bohmer as the goody-goody Glinda, the iconic characters originally played by Idina Mendel and Kristin Chenoweth.
—Karen D'souza, The Mercury News, 31 Aug. 2024
But the tension between evil Max and goody-goody Pippa makes my heart do backflips.
—Fletcher Peters, Vulture, 1 Aug. 2024
Gwen Grastorf’s embodiment of the scheming goody-goody Arsinoë is a tad stagy, but the character is still a fine foil for the quick-witted Célimène.
—Celia Wren, Washington Post, 4 May 2023
The Trump rule presumed these goody-goody considerations got in the way of profitability and that a retirement adviser who accommodated them couldn’t fulfill his professional responsibility to maximize his client’s return.
—Timothy Noah, The New Republic, 3 Mar. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for goody-goody
Noun
-
One only has to think about the British fight against Nazism to be reminded that it was made of imperialists, constitutionalists, stick-in-the-mud aristocrats, and the socialists who first helped put Winston Churchill into power and then five years later helped push him out again.—
Adam Gopnik,
New Yorker,
8 June 2026
-
But opposing him is Stagg, a Scottish, stick-in-the-mud academic (which is saying a lot by most weather men’s personality standards), who insists on making the team’s joint recommendation exclusively using the current observational data available to Allied forces.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
26 May 2026
Adjective
-
In Wake-Keeper (2026), a roughly four-by-five-foot canvas, a pious man draped in the red cloth of traditional Ghanaian funeral attire sits on a stool with his hands clasped, his body facing the left side of the frame.—
Lovia Gyarkye,
The New York Review of Books,
6 June 2026
-
The aim wasn’t to make the chatbot Bible-thumping or pious.—
Chris Stokel-Walker,
Scientific American,
26 May 2026
Adjective
-
Self-righteous and self-important, priggish and nagging.—
Amanda Whiting,
Vulture,
6 May 2026
-
Ghaywan’s script is explicit but never priggish in its moral standing, letting the outstanding performances drive home the perils of bigotry more than any grandstanding dialogue.—
Proma Khosla,
IndieWire,
25 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
The episode filmed in 2025 saw Hansen collapse on his Bering Sea crab fishing vessel; he was then rushed to the hospital, where doctors encouraged the ship captain to reconsider retirement.—
Shania Russell,
Entertainment Weekly,
4 June 2026
-
The Dungeness crab claw cocktail has all the tactile joy of a seafood boil.—
Colin Wrenn,
Denver Post,
3 June 2026
Adjective
-
Last year, a YouTube channel called Akhbar Enfejari (Explosive News) began posting a variety of digital content with a political and moralistic bent.—
Kyle Chayka,
New Yorker,
2 Apr. 2026
-
Good intentions — and handsome animation — aside, Forevergreen is ultimately too maudlin and moralistic to rank it much higher than this.—
Joe Reid,
Vulture,
10 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Cross-dressing was prohibited, as were speeches that mocked or questioned the party’s prudish, pro-family, heteronormative views on gender and sexuality; traditional German culture was to be celebrated, not mocked.—
Tim Brinkhof,
JSTOR Daily,
1 Apr. 2026
-
Statistics like these have become part of a discussion about whether the culture is growing prudish and puritanical.—
Faith Hill,
The Atlantic,
13 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
For someone who’s constantly on speakerphone, Tommy sure is a fuddy-duddy about using it correctly.—
William Earl,
Variety,
30 Nov. 2025
-
To some, Superman is a fuddy-duddy in a cape.—
Ken Makin,
Christian Science Monitor,
9 July 2025
Adjective
-
That’s when the movie takes a direction that’s both maudlin in the true sense of the word and ultimately even sanctimonious regarding the heroine’s sudden redemption.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
17 May 2026
-
The 34-year-old Haim, a successful musician who with just four roles in five quick years has also established herself as one of our most fascinating actresses, plays this turn from cheerful bud to sanctimonious hater perfectly.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
7 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Goody-goody.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/goody-goody. Accessed 14 Jun. 2026.
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