puritanical
Americanadjective
-
very strict in moral or religious matters, often excessively so; rigidly austere.
-
Sometimes Puritanical of, relating to, or characteristic of Puritans or Puritanism.
adjective
-
derogatory strict in moral or religious outlook, esp in shunning sensual pleasures
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(sometimes capital) of or relating to a puritan or the Puritans
Other Word Forms
- puritanically adverb
- puritanicalness noun
- unpuritanic adjective
- unpuritanical adjective
- unpuritanically adverb
Etymology
Origin of puritanical
Explanation
Strict, straight laced, and unsmiling, someone who is puritanical follows moral or religious rules to the letter. Describing someone as puritanical is usually a bit of a criticism, since the word implies that the person is not just religious, but overly rigid in his or her beliefs and not a lot of fun to be around. It stems from the word "Puritan," a believer in the branch of Protestantism that objected to some practices of the Church of England. Its root, in turn, is thought to be purity, which is what puritanical people seek when they stick to the rules.
Vocabulary lists containing puritanical
The Summer of Lost Letters
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Unit 8: Vocabulary from Readings
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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.
The setting is still a Swiss alpine hamlet, but the villagers are all members of some puritanical sect and its sleepwalking heroine, Amina, has longings that transcend its limits.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 8, 2025
The Jesus Army church recruited thousands of people to live in close-knit, puritanical communities in Northamptonshire, London and the Midlands.
From BBC • Jul. 28, 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
Missouri’s also a state whose highway billboard signs tell a much stranger story than the puritanical hubris of its legislators suggest.
From Salon • Dec. 28, 2023
Into the doors and into the soft lights I go, silently, past the rows of puritanical benches straight and torturous, finding that to which I am assigned and bending my body to its agony.
From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
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.
