pearl-clutching

comparative more pearl-clutching · superlative most pearl-clutching

1. derogatoryidiomaticPrim, prudish, or easily offended.

   Even the biggest doe-eyed, pearl-clutching Etsy muffin has to find some way to make it okay to be negative, because we have no choice.

   2010, April Winchell, Regretsy: Where DIY Meets WTF, Villard Books, →ISBN, page 131

   2 more examples

   When John Kerry “outed” Mary Cheney in a 2004 presidential debate, it was already well known that Mary Cheney was a lesbian. You can't out the already out, no matter what pearl-clutching pundits would have you believe.

   2007, Amanda Marcotte, It's a Jungle Out There: The Feminist Survival Guide to Politically Inhospitable Environments, Seal Press, →ISBN, page 141

   There's something truly irresistible about the pearl-clutching cartoons that came out during the time people thought women on bicycles were single-handedly going to bring society to ruin.

   2013, Jeff Smith, Jessica Abel, Matt Madden, editors, The Best American Comics 2013, Houghton Mifflin, →ISBN, page 362

   Synonyms: pearl-clutchy

plural pearl-clutchings

1. alternativecountableuncountableAlternative form of pearl clutching.

   Poverty, housing instability, hunger, mental health struggles and addiction can all contribute to more vulnerable pupils missing out on education, so spare us the annual pearl-clutching about taking the kids out of school to go on a sun holiday

   2026 February 19, Máire Treasa Ní Cheallaigh, “Máire Treasa Ní Cheallaigh: A few missed school days in Marbella is nothing. More serious absences need our attention”, in Irish Independent