prim
adjective
formally precise or proper, as persons or behavior; stiffly neat.
prim
1 American
[prim]
/ prɪm /
adjective
primmer,
primmest
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
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.
Vocabulary lists containing prim
Bridge to Terabithia
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Frindle
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The Egypt Game
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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.
This bold diagonal, cut through the prim Quaker street grid, produced a great many awkwardly shaped blocks, including the pointy trapezoid between the Parkway and the Vine Street Expressway that houses Calder Gardens.
From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 24, 2025
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
A portrait of a prim young lady in bright brushstrokes was being sold for $5,190.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 2, 2023
Feinstein, always prim and proper, at times seemed an odd icon of the leftist city.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 1, 2023
She was a quiet, intense little girl, rather prim in her way, and this outpouring was unusual.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
