prim
adjective
formally precise or proper, as persons or behavior; stiffly neat.
primness
-
a word derived from
prim.
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.
A certain primness enters the author’s account of the summer vacation Clara and Brahms took together in 1855.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
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
But in Andrews’ exquisitely judged performance, what might have played like mere primness or arrogance instead emerges as something so much more human and delicate and understated.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2019
There the Bacchantes were corseted and hooped to primness; the Satyrs had high red heels for hoofs, silken breeches for the fur of goats.
From The Passionate Elopement by Compton MacKenzie
