priggish

American  

[prig-ish] / ˈprɪg ɪʃ /

adjective

1. fussy about trivialities or propriety, especially in a self-righteous or irritating manner.

   At the beginning of the book, Eustace is an unpleasant, unlikable, and priggish character.

   He never softened his message to please genteel tastes or priggish scruples.

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Other Word Forms

• priggishly adverb
• priggishness noun
• unpriggish adjective

Etymology

Origin of priggish

prig ¹ ( def. ) + -ish ¹

Explanation

Priggish people are snobby and self-righteous. An overly prim and proper movie character who's always telling other people what they should do is priggish. If you offer your opinion on how your friends should live their lives, and especially if you're very uptight and snooty, people will think you're priggish. The adjective priggish comes from the eighteenth century prig, "precise in speech and manners," which was also used to mean "religiously devout." Earlier, a prig was "a petty thief."

Example Sentences

Frank Burns, the priggish Army doctor who was obsessed with nurse “Hot Lips” Houlihan in “MASH,” Duvall specialized in tightly wound tough guys.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 16, 2026

He aimed his deepest scorn at Nunn, whom he blamed for his downfall, denouncing him as blindly ambitious, duplicitous, timid, and priggish.

From Slate • Jan. 23, 2025

It was hardly the first role that allowed him to explore fussy or priggish characters.

From New York Times • Feb. 5, 2023

Q. What is the main complaint among the more priggish Losers about competing in the Invitational?

From Washington Post • May 20, 2021

Mantell was a lanky assemblage of shortcomings–he was vain, self-absorbed, priggish, neglectful of his family–but never was there a more devoted amateur paleontologist.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson