precisian

American  

[pri-sizh-uhn] / prɪˈsɪʒ ən /

noun

1. a person who adheres punctiliously to the observance of rules or forms, especially in matters of religion.

2. one of the English Puritans of the 16th and 17th centuries.

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precisian British  

/ prɪˈsɪʒən /

noun

1. a punctilious observer of rules or forms, esp in the field of religion

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Other Word Forms

• precisianism noun

Etymology

Origin of precisian

First recorded in 1565–75; precise + -ian

Example Sentences

I have seen so much of Shakspeare on the stage and on bookstalls, in frontispieces and on mantel-pieces, that I am quite tired of the everlasting repetition: and as to Milton’s face, the impressions that have come down to us of it I do not like; it is too starched and puritanical; and I should be afraid of losing some of the manna of his poetry in the leaven of his countenance and the precisian’s band and gown.’—‘I shall guess no more,’ said Ayrton.

From Project Gutenberg

Precise′ness; Preci′sian, an over-precise person: a formalist: a puritan; Preci′sianism; Preci′sianist, Preci′sionist, a precisian; Preci′sion, quality of being precise: exactness: accuracy.—v.t.

From Project Gutenberg

His public career shows more of the doctrinaire and precisian than can be found in any other one of these.

From Project Gutenberg

This combination of the martinet and free companion exhibited in the dress of the Captain, was a pretty intelligible index to his character, which disclosed a compound, not unfrequent in the civil wars of that period, of the precisian and ruffler,—the cavalier and economist.

From Project Gutenberg

One has many occasions to regret, when he reads Perrault's version of the wonderful tales he found, that he was a precisian in style and a courtier in manners; and we may find in the most apparently artless tales told by Grimm or by Asbjörnsen the most perfect organization and economy; as, for example in Briar-Rose or in The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

From Project Gutenberg