Prynne
Americannoun
noun
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.
The author likens Grietje to the women of Salem and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Hester Prynne, describing her as one of early America’s “unfairly and heinously maligned women.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026
When William arrives at his New York hotel, the front desk greets him: “Wow, look who it is, Hester Prynne herself.”
From Washington Post ● Feb. 1, 2021
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Decades before Salem, Hester Prynne steps out of the Boston prison house with her “witch child”.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 17, 2020
The Puritan appetite needs regular sating; every generation, you could say, must have its Hester Prynne.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 6, 2019
Like an oblivious Hester Prynne she carries her letter, the green capital D of her bow slung over her shoulder.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.