priss

[ pris ]

/ prɪs /

Informal.

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noun

someone who is excessively prim, proper, or fussy; an affectedly dainty or prissy person: Call me a priss, but I think the relentless explicitness in this novel reduces the characters somehow.

verb (used without object)

to act or move in a prim, fussy, or affectedly dainty way, like a priss: I’m not one to primp and priss over myself in the bathroom.At halftime I like to see the baton twirlers priss around in their itty-bitty costumes.

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Origin of priss

An Americanism dating back to 1920–25; back formation from prissy

Words nearby priss

prisoner's dilemma, prison fever, prison pallor, prison psychosis, prison rustic work, priss, Prissie, prissy, Priština, pristine, Pritchett

How to use priss in a sentence

Amina keeps her musical activities a secret from her devout school friends, forcing the already nervous priss into a double life.
Rom-com ‘Starstruck’ and coming-of-age comedy ‘We Are Lady Parts’ are this month’s hidden TV gems|Inkoo Kang|June 16, 2021|Washington Post
In those hours beside Mark, Priss completed the transition from girl to woman.
All the Brothers Were Valiant|Ben Ames Williams
Priss read it over his shoulder, and afterwards she clung close to Joel.
All the Brothers Were Valiant|Ben Ames Williams
Joel was below, in the cabin with Priss, when his brother boarded the ship.
All the Brothers Were Valiant|Ben Ames Williams

“My dear Priss,” he said, in the elder-brother manner he affected toward her.
All the Brothers Were Valiant|Ben Ames Williams
Priss had planned to go ashore in the afternoon; but Mark dissuaded her.
All the Brothers Were Valiant|Ben Ames Williams

priss

Origin of priss

Words nearby priss

Words related to priss

How to use priss in a sentence