Puritanical

Quick meaning: Puritanical is an adjective meaning Of or pertaining to the Puritans, or to their doctrines and practice.

Meaning

Of or pertaining to the Puritans, or to their doctrines and practice.

More Meanings

1. Precise in observance of legal or religious requirements; strict; overscrupulous; rigid (often used by way of reproach or contempt).
2. One who holds puritanical attitudes.

Example Sentences

The host proposed divers puritanical fancies—nay, once hinted at a head of Cromwell himself; but the hostess overruled all these proposals, and stood firm by the Sun.

American society has a double standard when it comes to sexuality. We have a puritanical taboo against talking about sexuality directly, yet we are fine with the sexual images that pervade television and glossy magazines.

Exogamy […] has few or none of the quaint superstitions which lend a certain picturesque charm to totemism. It is, so to say, a stern Puritanical institution. Its rigid logic, its complex rules, its elaborate terminology, its labyrinthine systems of relationship, it presents an aspect somewhat hard and repellant.

Word Forms

• puritanicals

Synonyms for puritanical

Depending on context, synonyms include prim, prissy, straightlaced, puritan, prudish, straitlaced.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include puritan, prim, prudish, square-toed, straightlaced, tight-laced.

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