puritanical
very strict in moral or religious matters, often excessively so; rigidly austere.
Sometimes Puritanical . of, relating to, or characteristic of Puritans or Puritanism.
Origin of puritanical
1- Often pu·ri·tan·ic .
Other words from puritanical
- pu·ri·tan·i·cal·ly, adverb
- pu·ri·tan·i·cal·ness, noun
- un·pu·ri·tan·ic, adjective
- un·pu·ri·tan·i·cal, adjective
- un·pu·ri·tan·i·cal·ly, adverb
Words Nearby puritanical
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use puritanical in a sentence
After the complete failure and repeal of alcohol prohibition in 1933, America’s puritanical conservatives and government agencies set their sights on drugs.
Chelsea Handler: Marijuana Criminalization Has Always Hurt People of Color the Most. The Time for Reform Is Now | Chelsea Handler | April 19, 2021 | TimeHis distaste derives from a basic confusion in the position of the puritanical prescriptivist.
Go Ahead, End With a Preposition: Grammar Rules We All Can Live With | Nick Romeo | November 3, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTPope Paul VI and the Church at that time could be forgiven for puritanical idealism.
The Vatican's Same-Sex Synod: The Bishops Hear About Reality. Do They Listen? | Barbie Latza Nadeau | October 12, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTSo, people sped by the models less out of puritanical deference to the naked bodies, but to keep up their steely reputations.
Maybe not such a huge problem for the puritanical but sometime very practical mullahs.
As Iran’s Marijuana Trade Thrives, Is It Becoming a Nation of Stoners? | IranWire | August 10, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Saudi society and government are intricately intertwined with a puritanical flavor of Islam, Wahhabism.
Will Saudi Arabia Execute Guest Workers for 'Witchcraft'? | Michael Schulson | March 29, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe puritanical party was by far the fewer in numbers, for which two excellent reasons might be given.
Peveril of the Peak | Sir Walter ScottBut at the time about which we are writing there was in Boston a distinguished family of puritanical ministers named Mather.
Irish Witchcraft and Demonology | St. John D. (St. John Drelincourt) SeymourHis preaching was plain, scriptural, and experimental, in the good old puritanical strain.
Memorials of the Independent Churches in Northamptonshire | Thomas ColemanIn contrast to his predecessor he connived at some irregularities of discipline in the puritanical clergy.
The Cathedral Church of Canterbury [2nd ed.]. | Hartley WithersThere was in society, though it was not strait-laced or puritanical, a general standard of "good form."
The English Novel | George Saintsbury
British Dictionary definitions for puritanical
less commonly puritanic
/ (ˌpjʊərɪˈtænɪkəl) /
usually derogatory strict in moral or religious outlook, esp in shunning sensual pleasures
(sometimes capital) of or relating to a puritan or the Puritans
Derived forms of puritanical
- puritanically, adverb
- puritanicalness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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