Pearl-clutching
adj
adj ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Adjective
- 1 Prim, prudish, or easily offended. derogatory, idiomatic
"When John Kerry “outed” Mary Cheney in a 2004 presidential debate, it was already well known that Mary Cheney was a lesbian. You can't out the already out, no matter what pearl-clutching pundits would have you believe."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"When John Kerry “outed” Mary Cheney in a 2004 presidential debate, it was already well known that Mary Cheney was a lesbian. You can't out the already out, no matter what pearl-clutching pundits would have you believe."
Etymology
From the image of a genteel woman clutching her pearl necklace in shock.
More for "pearl-clutching"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.