schoolmarm

American  

[skool-mahrm] / ˈskulˌmɑrm /

noun

Older Use.

1. a female schoolteacher, especially of the old-time country school type, popularly held to be strict and priggish.

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schoolmarm British  

/ ˈskuːlˌmɑːm /

noun

1. a woman schoolteacher, esp when considered to be prim, prudish, or old-fashioned

2. any woman considered to be prim, prudish, or old-fashioned

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Other Word Forms

• schoolmarmish adjective

Etymology

Origin of schoolmarm

1835–45, variant of schoolma'am

Example Sentences

She earned her Oscars playing the unconventional schoolmarm in “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” and a brittle movie star in “California Suite” in the 1970s.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 27, 2024

But she is still a substitute teacher, squirming to be the best schoolmarm she can be.

From Washington Times • Feb. 20, 2023

Ms. Theurer, a deeply religious wife and grandmother with schoolmarm charm, was an unlikely pandemic czar, but she leaped into the role head-on.

From New York Times • Oct. 6, 2022

DeBose, who is Afro-Latina, plays town schoolmarm Emma Tate, who most strongly resembles Marian from The Music Man and Anna from The King and I—roles that have historically been played by white actresses.

From Slate • Sep. 6, 2021

The butcher, the stonemason, the sheep farmer, and the schoolmarm: it's as though these figures came in a box along with pint-size storefronts and little stone houses.

From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris