prim
adjective
formally precise or proper, as persons or behavior; stiffly neat.
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primming.
prim
1 American
[prim]
/ prɪm /
adjective
-
primmer,
comparative
-
primmest
superlative
verb (used without object)
primmed,
primming
verb (used with object)
primmed,
primming
-
to make prim, as in appearance.
-
to draw (one's face, lips, etc.) into a prim expression.
prim
2
American
[prim]
/ prɪm /
noun
prim.
3
American
abbreviation
-
primary.
-
primitive.
prim
British
/ prɪm /
adjective
verb
-
(tr) to make prim
-
to purse (the mouth) primly or (of the mouth) to be so pursed
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of prim1
First recorded in 1675–85; origin uncertain
Origin of prim2
First recorded in 1565–75; shortening of earlier primprint privet < ?
Explanation
Prim means polite, straight-laced, even twee. Many characters in Jane Austen novels are prim and proper. Prim describes someone who is so concerned with being proper it becomes almost fake. If you go to the beach on spring break wearing a Victorian bathing costume, you're being prim. Clothes can be prim, too, like that long wool swimsuit. If you're feeling crazy, you can use prim as a verb meaning, "to purse your mouth into a prim expression" — like how you prim your lips when you look down your nose at someone using the wrong fork.
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Everything is prim, but the picture’s mood is as weirdly glum as it is exuberant.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
"The album is not for any pearl clutchers," she told CBS News, with reference to prim, prudish or easily offended people.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2025
Before each performance, the scene is set by a narrator who speaks in a prim, puritanical accent reminiscent of a bygone era.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2024
Not only are viewers watching boldface names eat, they’re also watching them eat foods that are considered distasteful — which goes against the prim and proper image that celebrities are expected to uphold.
From Salon ● Jan. 29, 2024
I even recognized her dress—navy with a prim white collar and cuffs, buttoned tightly.
From "The Old Willis Place" by Mary Downing Hahn
I think it is, Edwardi sext. or prim. et quint.
From An Essay on Man by Henry Morley
Place of imprisonment, penitentiary; prim. a fortress, or the garrison thereof.
From The Bible in Spain - Vol. 2 [of 2] by George Henry Borrow
A stew; prim. the pot in which the stew is made, which, as in the case of the olla, has come to signify the contents.
From The Bible in Spain - Vol. 2 [of 2] by George Henry Borrow
The brasher yet primmer Adewunmi speaks in a cosmopolitan London accent, while the quieter but more moan-prone Perkins drawls in a slight Tennessee twang.
From Slate ● Jun. 18, 2018
To hear the "pulpit genius," Dr. Joseph Parker, actors, authors, artists and bohemians pressed into City Temple alongside primmer Victorians.
From Time Magazine Archive
"Be the tarnal primmer, Dandy Duffy, but I see it now!" said the Rouser, struck by Bartle's address, and indignant at the idea of having been overreached by him.
From Fardorougha, The Miser The Works of William Carleton, Volume One by William Carleton
She was sewing as for dear life, and her face was primmer and colder than ever.
From Chronicles of Avonlea by L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery
Now my Hector, here, is a dog of education after his fashion, and, though the meanest primmer in the settlements would puzzle his information, you could not cheat the hound in a matter like this.
From The Prairie by James Fenimore Cooper
And even the primmest of towns will have their mischief-makers.
From Slate ● May 4, 2026
Into an elegant manse atop the white cliffs of England's south coast ventures Deborah Kerr, beautifully coiffed and dressed for a royal weekend, doing her primmest impersonation of a gentlewoman fallen upon difficult days.
From Time Magazine Archive
I took the liberty of going up to tell the young ladies and Mrs. Brough, when Master Peterkin first returned,' said James in his very politest and primmest tone.
From Peterkin by H. R. (Harold Robert) Millar
The house stood well back from the street, in the trimmest and primmest little garden that ever was seen.
From Geoffrey Strong by Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards
She nervously dressed for the “likeness,” for which she assumed her primmest pose.
From David Dunne A Romance of the Middle West by Belle Kanaris Maniates
Before the pleasant afternoon closed, he had gained permission to call the truant Letty, and she primmed her rosy lips as he taught her to say Will.
From The Chequers Being the Natural History of a Public-House, Set Forth in a Loafer's Diary by James Runciman
Her arms were folded, her mouth primmed into an expression of respect, mingled with obstinacy, her whole mind apparently bent up to the solemn interview.
From Old Mortality, Volume 1. by Sir Walter Scott
He saw the fine thin lips, like a woman's, primmed in satisfaction.
From The Path of the King by John Buchan
As Pet Marjorie would say, I am primmed up with majestic pride because of the compliments I receive.
From Olivia in India by O. Douglas
The Ladies' Society fluttered at sight of him, and primmed itself, and shook out its skirts.
From Geoffrey Strong by Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards
"I told Ma that she had on bracelets, and Ma said she feared your cousin was a worldly person," retorted Cecy, primming up her lips.
From What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge
Then pulled herself together as the landlady in curled fringe and long grey ulster entered the room, primming long, thin lips.
From The Privet Hedge by J. E. Buckrose
She sat very straight in her chair, eating with the careful gentility of a bird, and primming her thin lips after every mouthful of tea.
From Huntingtower by John Buchan
His face was dingy, his lips were grey, From primming sparrowbills day by day; As he turned his boot he heard a noise At his garden-end and he thought, "It's boys."
From Reynard the Fox by John Masefield
To wind up all, Ellwood, primming up his Mouth, says, "Thou hast found much to tell us, Friend Milton, on Paradise Lost;—now, what hast thou to tell of Paradise Regained?"
From Mary Powell & Deborah's Diary by Anne Manning
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