variants
or straightlaced
as in puritanical
given to or marked by very conservative standards regarding personal behavior or morals
a very straitlaced old lady who believed that cleavage was something that should be shown by rock crystals, not respectable women
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of straitlaced
Even television, though, began to feel straitlaced.
—
Julian Lucas, The New Yorker, 2 Aug. 2024
Doherty, then 19, became a superstar in the early ’90s playing the straitlaced but short-tempered Brenda Walsh as the show became a guilty pleasure for a generation.
—Ethan Sacks, NBC News, 14 July 2024
These misfit progeny get a shot at redemption, far from their nefarious parents, and attend a straitlaced boarding school teeming with the children of Disney sweethearts.
—Ew Staff, EW.com, 1 July 2024
This timeless comedic tandem — where Lucy's zany antics collided with Ricky's straitlaced demeanor — kept generations in stitches for a remarkable 180 episodes.
—James Mercadante and Johnny Loftus, EW.com, 22 Sep. 2023
See All Example Sentences for straitlaced
Julian Lucas, The New Yorker, 2 Aug. 2024
Doherty, then 19, became a superstar in the early ’90s playing the straitlaced but short-tempered Brenda Walsh as the show became a guilty pleasure for a generation.
—Ethan Sacks, NBC News, 14 July 2024
These misfit progeny get a shot at redemption, far from their nefarious parents, and attend a straitlaced boarding school teeming with the children of Disney sweethearts.
—Ew Staff, EW.com, 1 July 2024
This timeless comedic tandem — where Lucy's zany antics collided with Ricky's straitlaced demeanor — kept generations in stitches for a remarkable 180 episodes.
—James Mercadante and Johnny Loftus, EW.com, 22 Sep. 2023
See All Example Sentences for straitlaced
Recent Examples of Synonyms for straitlaced
Adjective
-
First, the movement of women telling their stories of victimization online was dismissed by many as a toxic importation of puritanical American mores that were unnecessary in a culture of seduction and harmony between the sexes.—
Catherine Porter,
New York Times,
15 May 2025
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Over the past few years, generational warfare has only ramped up—so much so that it’s become boring to even reference: Gen Z hating on millennials for being cringe, millennials hating on Gen Z for being puritanical, and everyone hating on boomers for being, well, boomers.—
Daisy Jones,
Vogue,
3 May 2025
Adjective
-
The only real originality in the accounts of Jesus’ virgin birth is their distinctly Jewish and prudish tone, with the impregnation dignified and at arm’s length rather than represented, as in the Hellenistic myths, as a shower of gold or the lovemaking of an amorous swan.—
Adam Gopnik,
The New Yorker,
24 Mar. 2025
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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
Adjective
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Paying homage to the Victorian era through a novel and contemporary Australian lens, McRae feels like a trapeze between past and present.—
Brad Japhe,
Forbes.com,
1 June 2025
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The team tested ten different approaches on 200-year-old human brain tissue recovered from Bristol’s former Blackberry Hill Hospital, once a Victorian workhouse and originally a prison for 18th-century war captives.—
Jenny Lehmann,
Discover Magazine,
30 May 2025
Adjective
-
Her sartorial strategy was clear: midi-skirts and dresses that were elegant, prim and demure, worn with headbands for a youthful earnestness.—
Leah Dolan,
CNN Money,
22 May 2025
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Sure, Wimbledon is the Major most associated with prim and proper antiquated rituals.—
Merlisa Lawrence Corbett,
Forbes.com,
22 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Straitlaced.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/straitlaced. Accessed 5 Jun. 2025.
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