Puritanism

[pyoor-i-tn-iz-uhm]

noun

1. the principles and practices of the Puritans.

2. (sometimes lowercase),  extreme strictness in moral or religious matters, often to excess; rigid austerity.

Other Word Forms

• anti-Puritanism noun
• pro-Puritanism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of Puritanism¹

First recorded in 1565–75; Puritan + -ism

Example Sentences

Puritanism shattered into multiple feuding sects and collapsed, and 18th century Enlightenment values of cosmopolitan secular government were ushered in.

From Los Angeles Times

The case, however, made Comstock’s name synonymous with “prudery, Puritanism and officious meddling,” according to Broun and Leech.

From Los Angeles Times

Mencken, who defined Puritanism as “the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, might be happy,” these anti-woke warriors seem to live in dread that someone, somewhere, might be acting rationally and graciously.

From Washington Post

He might have vanished into Boston history were it not for the British, who spectacularly and catastrophically failed to understand what made Massachusetts citizens, forged by an independent version of Puritanism, tick.

From Seattle Times

The Pilgrims who initially arrived in Plymouth practiced an extreme form of Puritanism that broke with the Church of England.

From Washington Post