sumptuary law

noun

1. a law regulating personal habits that offend the moral or religious beliefs of the community.
2. a law regulating personal expenditures designed to restrain extravagance, especially in food and dress.

sumptuary law

noun

1. (formerly) a law imposing restraint on luxury, esp by limiting personal expenditure or by regulating personal conduct in religious and moral spheres

Word History and Origins

Origin of sumptuary law¹

First recorded in 1590–1600

Example Sentences

The novel almost dares readers to object to its inwardness — “It’s like there’s a new sumptuary law against introspection,” one of the four complains — but its tender, psychologically precise prose feels like a bulwark against the exposure it takes for a subject.

From New York Times

“It’s like there’s a new sumptuary law against introspection.”

From The New Yorker

“It’s like there’s a sumptuary law against introspection.”

From Washington Post

The French have a history of imposing this 21st-century equivalent of medieval sumptuary law on other items of Muslim dress.

From Wall Street Journal

The impression given by the young men was mainly of legs in stockings— it had even been found necessary to pass a sumptuary law, which insisted that their jacket should be long enough to cover the buttocks.

From Literature