- 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
Paul is a straight-laced square, and Ford looks like he’s having a blast every episode pushing Paul to his limits.
From Salon ● Dec. 20, 2024
But they’ve also tried to be funny, whereas LinkedIn is a bit more straight-laced: There is no such thing as Weird LinkedIn.
From Slate ● Nov. 10, 2023
Our fathers may have been narrow or straight-laced; they were not cross-eyed from trying to keep one eye on God and the other on the main chance.
From The Whence and the Whither of Man A Brief History of His Origin and Development through Conformity to Environment; Being the Morse Lectures of 1895 by John Mason Tyler
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.
