puritanical
Americanadjective
-
very strict in moral or religious matters, often excessively so; rigidly austere.
-
Sometimes Puritanical of, relating to, or characteristic of Puritans or Puritanism.
adjective
-
derogatory strict in moral or religious outlook, esp in shunning sensual pleasures
-
(sometimes capital) of or relating to a puritan or the Puritans
Other Word Forms
- puritanically adverb
- puritanicalness noun
- unpuritanic adjective
- unpuritanical adjective
- unpuritanically adverb
Etymology
Origin of puritanical
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It highlighted societal changes in Saudi Arabia that allowed edgy American comedians to perform in a country long dismissed as irredeemably puritanical and regressive.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 23, 2025
The Jesus Army church recruited thousands of people to live in close-knit, puritanical communities in Northamptonshire, London and the Midlands.
From BBC • Jul. 28, 2025
Before each performance, the scene is set by a narrator who speaks in a prim, puritanical accent reminiscent of a bygone era.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 10, 2024
And two justices have already aligned themselves with a sweeping interpretation of its puritanical prohibitions.
From Slate • Mar. 26, 2024
Into the doors and into the soft lights I go, silently, past the rows of puritanical benches straight and torturous, finding that to which I am assigned and bending my body to its agony.
From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
