priggish

comparative more priggish · superlative most priggish

1. Like a prig.

   To ride; to dance; she had adored all that. Or going long walks in the country, talking, about books, what to do with one’s life, for young people were amazingly priggish—oh, the things one had said!

   1923, Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway in Bond Street

   3 more examples

   When the Voice of Britain is heard at nine o'clock, better far and infinitely less ludicrous to hear aitches honestly dropped than the present priggish, inflated, inhibited, school-ma'amish arch braying of blameless bashful mewing maidens!

   1946, George Orwell, quoting Letter in Tribune, Politics and the English Language

   Great ancient columns and rich marbles inspired him with respect, apart from their beauty; and this proprietary human esteem for the arts was a good corrective to the priggish aestheticism of my English-speaking artistic friends.

   1952 May, George Santayana, “I Like to Be a Stranger”, in The Atlantic

   With the advantage of hindsight, [Jess] Stein may seem priggish. But dictionary editors throughout history would sympathize. Figuring out how to put sex in the dictionary—which terms to include and how to define them—is actually one of the most challenging tasks we face.

   2009 October 1, Jesse Sheidlower, “Why it's so hard to put sex in the dictionary.”, in Slate Magazine

   Synonyms: prim, prissy, prudish, puritanical