Meanings
comparative more straight-laced · comparative straighter-laced · superlative most straight-laced · superlative straightest-laced · alternative straightlaced · alternative strait-laced · alternative straitlaced
- Having narrow views on moral matters; prudish.
Me thinks St. Augustin was too straight-laced in not liking Organs in Churches.
1687, John Aubrey, Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, page 20Synonyms: tight-laced, stuffy
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveHaving narrow views on moral matters; prudish.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectiveexaggeratedly proper
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Widely agreed to have originated (centuries ago) by homophonic confusion (in speech) of strait-laced (“tight-laced”), but long since so widely accepted and used, because of having such strongly apparent analogy with straight in its senses relating to orthodoxy and conformity (compare squareness), that it can no longer accurately be called erroneous; instead it is an established alternative form with its own reanalyzed surface analysis. Compare straitjacket with *straightjacket; the latter is still usually regarded as an error, but the relationship is analogous. Compare also strait and narrow with straight and narrow, where the latter spelling has all but replaced the former.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 古板, 守舊 /守旧
- 古板 (gǔbǎn)having narrow views on moral matters
- 守舊 /守旧 (shǒujiù)having narrow views on moral matters
- 保守 (bǎoshǒu)having narrow views on moral matters
- 拘謹 /拘谨 (jūjǐn)having narrow views on moral matters
Czech prudérní, puritánský
- prudérníhaving narrow views on moral matters
- puritánskýhaving narrow views on moral matters
- upjatýhaving narrow views on moral matters
Dutch bekrompen
- bekrompenhaving narrow views on moral matters
Finnish ahdasmielinen, tiukkapipoinen
- ahdasmielinenhaving narrow views on moral matters
- tiukkapipoinenhaving narrow views on moral matters
French prude
- prudehaving narrow views on moral matters
German sittenstreng, züchtig
- sittenstrenghaving narrow views on moral matters
- züchtighaving narrow views on moral matters
- puritanischhaving narrow views on moral matters
Polish konserwatywny, ortodoksyjny
- konserwatywnyhaving narrow views on moral matters
- ortodoksyjnyhaving narrow views on moral matters
- purytańskihaving narrow views on moral matters
- pruderyjnyhaving narrow views on moral matters
Spanish conservador
- conservadorhaving narrow views on moral matters
Cite this entry
straight-laced. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/straight-laced
“straight-laced.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/straight-laced. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “straight-laced,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/straight-laced.
Source: straight-laced on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.