primping

1 6.8

Careful fixing of your hair or clothes to make yourself look better before going out

noun
/ˈprɪmpɪŋ/

Informal

: arreglo

The actors were given some time for last-minute primping before the big premiere to ensure they looked their absolute best.
primping and pampering

Examples

Well, we finally did it; after weeks of primping and preening, mowing and cleaning, decluttering, styling, and a lot of screaming, we opened the HausStylish house to the market today.

Blog text (27)
Why, you need some primping time before you go out clubbing?

Spiral (2007)
Any more primping, the girls are gonna cry with jealousy.

In a World... (2013)
She remembered her mother's nervous primping as they approached the door; her father's masked pride.

Fiction book (1999)
All of my primping has made me late, and I speed like a feeble-minded teenager to Lucinda's condo on the other side of town, only to find she isn't ready.

Fiction book (2002)
Before the wedding, the bride and her friends spent hours on primping to look their best.
She enjoyed the primping ritual each morning, carefully choosing her outfit and applying makeup.

Antonyms

neglect

100 3.5

Not caring for someone or something that needs care

sloppiness

5 3.7

Careless, untidy behaviour that shows little attention to detail

How Groomed

primping

Informal

1 6.8

grooming

24 2.2

tidy appearance

1.8

Surface Forms

primping singular

primpings plural

Morphology

primping = primp (transparent) = primp + ing

Form and meaning are the regular verb + -ing nominalization/gerund, so the sense is directly derived from 'primp'.

Etymology

Primping comes from the small verb primp, which comes from prim meaning 'neat' or 'proper'. So primping is the act of carefully fixing your hair, clothes, or face to look just right before an event.