buttoned-up
Americanadjective
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conservative, as in professional style or manner.
Employers are looking for buttoned-up types.
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carefully planned, operated, supervised, etc..
It's one of the most buttoned-up companies in the business.
Etymology
Origin of buttoned-up
First recorded in 1935–40
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.
“We’re challenging the buttoned-up paradigm of burying the dead. We’re keeping our dead alive through art, through talking about them always.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
Michigan Mike Rogers is a bit of a throwback to the pre-Trump GOP: a buttoned-up, country-club Republican from the George W. Bush era.
From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2026
The future Goldman Sachs CEO’s shirt collars were popping out—a no-no in his buttoned-up white-shoe law office.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
The shifting promises are unsurprising to colleagues familiar with the brash, quick-tempered Gorka, a gate crasher in Washington’s buttoned-up defense establishment.
From Salon ● Apr. 22, 2026
I’ve walked around the campuses nearby, seen all the buttoned-up students with their books and their satchels and their studious expressions.
From "X: A Novel" by Ilyasah Shabazz
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
