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

See Examples For:

schoolmarm

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

If every old-timey town had a schoolmarm as enchanting and electric as DeBose’s Miss Emma, we might not be wallowing in the ignorance we find ourselves in today.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 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

She was more than a schoolmarm with a ruler, trying to nudge me to the straight and narrow, which could never work.

From "X: A Novel" by Ilyasah Shabazz