straight-laced

[streyt-leyst]

See more synonyms for straight-laced on Thesaurus.com

adjective

strait-laced.

Related formsstraight-lac·ed·ly

[streyt-ley-sid-lee, -leyst-lee] /ˈstreɪtˈleɪ sɪd li, -ˈleɪst li/, adverbstraight-lac·ed·ness, noun

strait-laced

or straight-laced

[streyt-leyst]

adjective

excessively strict in conduct or morality; puritanical; prudish: strait-laced censors.
tightly laced, as a bodice.
wearing tightly laced garments.

Origin of strait-laced

late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50

Related formsstrait-lac·ed·ly

[streyt-ley-sid-lee, -leyst-lee] /ˈstreɪtˈleɪ sɪd li, -ˈleɪst li/, adverbstrait-lac·ed·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for straight-laced

rigid, bigoted, bourgeois, commonplace, conforming, conservative, demure, dogmatic, hackneyed, humdrum, illiberal, inflexible, insular, lame, literal, moderate, moral, narrow, narrow-minded, obstinate

Examples from the Web for straight-laced

Contemporary Examples of straight-laced

Thwarted by straight-laced parents, vivacious Flo eventually eloped to Philly with a doctor and then divorced.
Dead Cool: Florence Foster Jenkins
Simon Doonan
July 10, 2010
William Parker is a straight-laced cop with dreams of ridding L.A of its crime and endemic corruption.
The Daily Beast Recommends
The Daily Beast
August 25, 2009
One of my students started senior year straight-laced and dreaming of studying engineering at Georgia Tech.
How Colleges Dupe Students
Kathleen Kingsbury
June 14, 2009

Historical Examples of straight-laced

In fact, he was so merry that, by the straight-laced Puritans, he was thought ungodly.
The Witch of Salem
John R. Musick
Goodness, you can't afford to be as straight-laced as all that, in this town.
Cape of Storms
Percival Pollard
But Christopher Wellwyn's heart is too full of humanity to admit of such a straight-laced attitude.
The Social Significance of the Modern Drama
Emma Goldman
One that has been discovered very recently is that the straight-faced are the straight-laced.
How to Analyze People on Sight
Elsie Lincoln Benedict and Ralph Paine Benedict
The North American, beneath his cold and straight-laced appearance, conceals a warm and enthusiastic heart.
The Gold-Seekers
Gustave Aimard

British Dictionary definitions for straight-laced

straight-laced

adjective

a variant spelling of strait-laced

strait-laced

straight-laced

adjective

prudish or puritanical

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for straight-laced

strait-laced

adj.

1540s, of stays or bodices; figurative sense of "over-precise, prudish" is from 1550s; see strait (n.) + lace (v.).