straitlaced
1
8.4
- adjective
- /ˈstreɪtˌleɪst/
- With growing relish, like a precocious infant testing the temper of his straitlaced elders, he proceeded to repeat the shocking word, over and over, till it rose in a crescendo to tremble on the air.
- so straitlaced
Examples
-
Even your boss, straitlaced, hatchet-faced Mr. George Lowery, why, even he can smell the rancid, pungent scent of sex all over you!
-
Deliver me from straitlaced, meaning-well ones running interference in rigid pews and plaster statues.
Fiction book (1994) -
But my father never changed, always stubborn and straitlaced.
Blog text (31) -
She's very straitlaced.
Fiction book (1996) -
In the silence, Brendan Tuohey looked down and brushed some more of the confectioner’s sugar from the lapels of his straitlaced suit.
Fiction book (1999) -
In the years before the Lacanian asteroid slammed into the American university, an undergraduate majoring in English literature had requirements that made at least superficial sense and a program to follow that, if irritatingly straitlaced and ultimately hollow, made demands a person could fulfill.
Academic text (2005) -
Conrad—the straitlaced, hardworking son of two Haight-Ashbury wastrels—is a reactionary in the precise sense, rebelling against the disorder of his parents' lives by becoming everything they are not.
Blog text (19) -
Her straitlaced attitudes made her resistant to any change in tradition.
-
Despite his straitlaced demeanor, he secretly enjoyed wild parties.
-
The straitlaced rules of the club discouraged any behavior deemed improper.
Synonyms
14
7.9
Too fussy about being neat and proper
13
8.2
Disapproving of pleasure and very strict about moral behavior
11
7.0
Very formal and proper in a stiff, old-fashioned way
8
7.1
Easily shocked by sex and strict about modesty
5
7.1
Very strict about correct behavior and manners
1
9.9
Acting as if you are better than others about rules and manners
1
7.8
Very strict about behavior and dress
1
9.9
Very strict about how people should behave for religious reasons
1
8.2
Having very strict rules about proper behaviour and dress
1
8.1
Being very strict about how people behave and dress
Antonyms
How Strict
1
8.4
13
8.2
- Offensive
1
9.9
11
7.0
- Formal
17
3.0
784
2.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Straitlaced comes from strait meaning 'narrow' and lace meaning 'a string for tying clothes'. Imagine tight laces pulling someone into a stiff, proper shape — that's why a straitlaced person is very strict and formal.