- a variation of strait-laced.
straight-laced
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
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.
Cornyn, by contrast, is a straight-laced institutional conservative who has represented Texas in the Senate since 2002 and built deep ties with the state's donor class and Republican leadership in Washington.
From Barron's ● May 26, 2026
Coop’s larcenous ways awaken something in him that the straight-laced corporate life had repressed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 12, 2026
In 2004, she said, Capriglione came into the club where she was working and stood out as “a very straight-laced businessman.”
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2025
“It’s a bonus when I’m able to stretch myself and feel like I’m being challenged,” Poulter says of his character, the most straight-laced figure in the film, but imbued by Poulter with a surprising vulnerability.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2025
I’m not a more straight-laced chap than most, but, you see, I can’t exactly bring myself to slope off and leave Sintoba and the rest of them in the lurch.
From The Luck of Gerard Ridgeley by Mitford, Bertram
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.
