Standard Lemma guide

straight-laced

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

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

Pronunciation

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1

adj

Meaning 1

Having narrow views on moral matters; prudish.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

exaggeratedly proper

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • my straitlaced Aunt Anna doesn't approve of my miniskirts

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: priggish, prim, prissy, prudish, puritanical, square-toed, straitlaced, strait-laced, straightlaced, tight-laced, victorian

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Widely agreed to have originated (centuries ago) in homophonic confusion (in speech) of strait-laced (“tight-laced”), but long since so widely accepted and used, because having such strongly apparent analogy with straight in its senses relating to orthodoxy and conformity (compare squareness), that it can no longer accurately be called erroneous; instead it is an established alternative form with its own reanalyzed surface analysis. Compare straitjacket with *straightjacket; the latter is still usually regarded as an error, but the relationship is analogous.

Across languages

Translations

19 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 古板 (gǔbǎn) — having narrow views on moral matters
  • Chinese Mandarin: 守舊 /守旧 (shǒujiù) — having narrow views on moral matters
  • Chinese Mandarin: 保守 (bǎoshǒu) — having narrow views on moral matters
  • Chinese Mandarin: 拘謹 /拘谨 (jūjǐn) — having narrow views on moral matters
  • Czech: prudérní — having narrow views on moral matters
  • Czech: puritánský — having narrow views on moral matters
  • Czech: upjatý — having narrow views on moral matters
  • Dutch: bekrompen — having narrow views on moral matters
  • Finnish: ahdasmielinen — having narrow views on moral matters
  • Finnish: tiukkapipoinen — having narrow views on moral matters
  • French: prude — having narrow views on moral matters
  • German: sittenstreng — having narrow views on moral matters
  • German: züchtig — having narrow views on moral matters
  • German: puritanisch — having narrow views on moral matters
  • Polish: konserwatywny — having narrow views on moral matters
  • Polish: ortodoksyjny — having narrow views on moral matters
  • Polish: purytański — having narrow views on moral matters
  • Polish: pruderyjny — having narrow views on moral matters
  • Spanish: conservador — having narrow views on moral matters