Synonyms of prudish

prudish

adjective

ˈprü-dish 

as in puritanical

given to or marked by very conservative standards regarding personal behavior or morals

by the prudish standards of the 19th century, any depiction of the nude was scandalous

Synonyms & Similar Words

• puritanical
• Victorian
• straitlaced
• prim
• moral
• priggish
• proper
• honest
• bluenosed
• nice-nelly
• staid
• decent
• refined
• stuffy
• virtuous
• upright
• genteel
• righteous
• right

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• permissive
• liberated
• improper
• indecent
• immoral
• lecherous
• bad
• prurient
• lax
• loose
• wicked
• sleazy
• depraved
• perverted
• degenerate
• lickerish
• skanky
• slutty
• debauched
• degraded
• slatternly
• trampy
• sluttish

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of prudish

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

My favorite stereotype is the one where Germans think Americans are prudish. — Deborah Treisman, New Yorker, 21 Dec. 2025

But Townsend Warner’s takedown of prudish Victorian morality is only getting started. — Literary Hub, 10 June 2025

The Comstock Act is a relic, not just of a more prudish era in American history, but of an age when the sort of individual rights that modern Americans take for granted effectively did not exist. — Ian Millhiser, Vox, 27 May 2024