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

Woolf, like several other characters in “Run,” is based on a real person; Cocker-Norris, whom Oyelowo renders with an amusingly priggish persnickety-ness, is not.

From Washington Post • Sep. 13, 2022

He’s so insufferably priggish that at school his name, William Orser, has by common consent been elided to the nonexistent word “Worser,” just to drive him crazy.

From New York Times • Aug. 12, 2022

The corporate culture that it reflects and embodies is, above all, sanctimoniousness, nostalgic, and priggish.

From The New Yorker • Nov. 19, 2019

Galahad, a priggish, mute little boy, was playing some private game with his dolls—to which he remained attached long after most boys would have taken to soldiers.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White