priggish

[prig-ish]

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.

Other Word Forms

• priggishly adverb
• priggishness noun
• unpriggish adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of priggish¹

prig ¹ ( def. ) + -ish ¹

Example Sentences

At its worst, Orange County appears to be nouveau-riche snobbish, insecure, artificially flavored and colored, vapid, priggish and drearily sanitized.

From Los Angeles Times

Isabel, unmarried, priggish and devoted to her housekeeping routine, lives alone in her family’s home, ostensibly keeping it safe for the brother who inherited it.

From Los Angeles Times

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

From New York Times

Forgetting that he’d ever been way behind the fashion curve, he was appalled, in some priggish, nouveau riche kind of way, that certain passengers appeared in the dining room in slacks and sneakers.

From Literature

Fordham University, the Jesuit institution in New York, claims to have blessed the team with its name, thanks to some priggish divines at the school.

From Los Angeles Times