priggish
/ˈprɪɡɪʃ
/adjective
Self-righteously moralistic and superior: a priggish little pedant she was priggish about sex...
- Fortunately, the message couched within the narrative is neither excessively moralistic nor priggish.
- A pretty good defence mechanism is to be open - but also, I think, without being too priggish and sanctimonious, it's a kind of responsibility if you're in public life.
- The movie is splendidly arrayed visually, but transforms her prim, priggish character and makes her lusty, strong-willed and far too politically progressive for her era.
Synonyms
self-righteous, holier-than-thou, smug, sanctimonious, moralistic, sententious, prudish, puritanical, prim, strait-laced, tight-laced, stuffy, starchy, prissy, Victorian, schoolmarmish, schoolmistressy, old-maidish, narrow, narrow-minded, censorious, Pecksniffian, Pharisaic, hypocritical
informal goody-goody
rare Grundyish
Derivatives
priggishly
- My partner had wanted souvenirs, but somewhat priggishly, I had stopped her.
- "There's nothing wrong with having a few principles", he insists, priggishly.
- And I used to have my little priggish laugh at the woman who counted her chickens before they were hatched and so forth, and I was convinced that honesty was the best policy, also a little priggishly.
priggishness
/ noun ...- I have even noticed myself becoming cleverer, and now, at the age of nearly 60, I have almost thrown off adolescent habits of moral certainty and political priggishness.
- Although faced with accusations of priggishness and prudery, the council remains unrepentant, arguing that it is taking a principled stand.
- The other major female character in the cast, Hester Worsley, a visiting American, was nearly made believable by Rachel Stirling, although the stereotyped priggishness of the role ultimately overcame her.