- 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
But as time has passed, his appearances has been marked by artists and actors wrestling with his godlike nobility and wanting to question his straight-laced nature.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 7, 2026
“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
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
By his side Proudhon, whom Kropotkin, like all the present day Anarchists, takes for the father of Anarchism, is but a straight-laced Philistine.
From Anarchism and Socialism by Plekhanov, Georgii Valentinovich
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.
