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.

But the show's outlandish plots more than made up for its primness, whether that was ACP Pradyuman coming back from the dead or inspector Daya single-handedly manoeuvring a poison-gas filled plane to safety.

From BBC • Dec. 7, 2024

Sure, it’s sort of pretending to be private and polite, and this gives it a slightly weird and contorted energy; you don’t often see trolling combined with H-E-double-hockey-sticks primness.

From Slate • Nov. 4, 2021

Charles exploits Martin’s natural sweetness, his streak of primness and reserve; Oliver, as intense as Ed Grimley, mines Short’s madness.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 31, 2021

The deeper problem is just that they seem leering and gratuitous, even as Hopper’s rigid handling infuses them with a certain Yankee primness.

From Washington Post • Nov. 27, 2019

It still preserved for him an illusion of sobriety and stability, almost of primness, yet of being rich with a demure gaiety.

From Sinister Street, vol. 2 by MacKenzie, Compton