as in Victorian
given to or marked by very conservative standards regarding personal behavior or morals
some of the state laws concerning sexual behavior are vestiges of a more puritanical time and are rarely, if ever, enforced
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Recent Examples of puritanical
Over the past few years, generational warfare has only ramped up—so much so that it’s become boring to even reference: Gen Z hating on millennials for being cringe, millennials hating on Gen Z for being puritanical, and everyone hating on boomers for being, well, boomers.
—
Daisy Jones, Vogue, 3 May 2025
His subject, Nandy told me, exhibited all the traits of an authoritarian personality: puritanical rigidity, a constricted emotional life, fear of his own passions, and an enormous ego that protected a gnawing insecurity.
—Andrew Marantz, New Yorker, 28 Apr. 2025
While the #MeToo movement toppled scores of powerful men in Hollywood, in France it was viewed suspiciously by some as a puritanical American import that was tainting an essential part of France’s intellectual and cultural identity.
—Catherine Porter, New York Times, 24 Mar. 2025
Raising the stakes were the injunctions of the Hays Code, whose puritanical rules demanded that studio filmmakers in Hollywood shy away from depictions of interracial romance.
—Mayukh Sen, The Atlantic, 1 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for puritanical
Daisy Jones, Vogue, 3 May 2025
His subject, Nandy told me, exhibited all the traits of an authoritarian personality: puritanical rigidity, a constricted emotional life, fear of his own passions, and an enormous ego that protected a gnawing insecurity.
—Andrew Marantz, New Yorker, 28 Apr. 2025
While the #MeToo movement toppled scores of powerful men in Hollywood, in France it was viewed suspiciously by some as a puritanical American import that was tainting an essential part of France’s intellectual and cultural identity.
—Catherine Porter, New York Times, 24 Mar. 2025
Raising the stakes were the injunctions of the Hays Code, whose puritanical rules demanded that studio filmmakers in Hollywood shy away from depictions of interracial romance.
—Mayukh Sen, The Atlantic, 1 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for puritanical
Recent Examples of Synonyms for puritanical
Victorian
Adjective
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Meller specializes in modern and contemporary art and named Ai-Da after Ada Lovelace, the Victorian visionary who wrote the first computer program.—
Leslie Katz,
Forbes.com,
18 July 2025
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Historical Mystery Show: Step into a world of Victorian elegance and deadly secrets when DeBary Hall Historic Site partners with Gateway Center for the Arts to present a Historical Mystery Show.—
Joe Rassel,
The Orlando Sentinel,
16 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Puritanical.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/puritanical. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.
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