Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
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adj
Of a person, their manner or appearance: Formal and precise; stiffly decorous.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Prudish; straight-laced.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: broadly
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Of things: Neat; trim.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
A surname.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A prim person.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
privet
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic
Topics: biology, botany, natural-sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To make one's expression prim.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To give a prim or demure expression to (one's face, mouth, or (rare) lips).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To dress (one) up affectedly or demurely.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
exaggeratedly proper
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: priggish, prissy, prudish, puritanical, square-toed, straitlaced, strait-laced, straightlaced, straight-laced, tight-laced, victorian
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
affectedly dainty or refined
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: dainty, mincing, niminy-piminy, twee
Antonyms: none provided
verb
dress primly
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: prim up, prim out
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: dress, clothe, enclothe, garb, raiment, tog, garment, habilitate, fit out, apparel
verb
contract one's lips
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: compress, constrict, squeeze, compact, contract, press
verb
assume a prim appearance
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: change
History
Of uncertain origin. In the verb sense, first appeared in Thomas D'Urfey's A Fool's Preferment in the year 1688. In the noun sense, first appeared in A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew in the year 1699, meaning "prig." Now obsolete. In the adjective sense, first appeared in Sir Richard Steele's The Funeral in the year 1702, meaning "consciously or affectedly strict or precise; stiffly formal and respectable." Oxford English Dictionary proposed a relation with primp and prink. Chiefly Scottish and U.S.
Unknown; see privet.
Across languages
20 source translations are retained for this English entry.
