nice-nellyism

or nice-Nel·ly·ism

[ nahys-nel-ee-iz-uhm ]

noun
  1. excessive modesty; prudishness.

  2. a euphemism: an evasive style of writing, full of circumlocutions and nice-nellyisms.

Origin of nice-nellyism

1
First recorded in 1935–40; nice nelly + -ism

Words Nearby nice-nellyism

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024