Prim
adj, name, noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A prim person. archaic, obsolete
- 2 privet archaic
- 1 To make one's expression prim. archaic, intransitive
- 2 dress primly wordnet
- 3 To give a prim or demure expression to (one's face, mouth, or (rare) lips). archaic, transitive
- 4 contract one's lips wordnet
- 5 To dress (one) up affectedly or demurely. archaic, transitive
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- 6 assume a prim appearance wordnet
- 1 Of a person, their manner or appearance: Formal and precise; stiffly decorous.
"Philemon was in great Surprize, And hardly could believe his Eyes, Amaz’d to ſee her look ſo prim; And ſhe admir’d as much at him."
- 2 Of a person: Prudish; straight-laced. broadly
- 3 Of things: Neat; trim.
"prim regularity"
- 1 exaggeratedly proper wordnet
- 2 affectedly dainty or refined wordnet
- 1 A surname.
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"That president's secretary is always prim."
Etymology
Of uncertain origin. In the verb sense, first appeared in Thomas D'Urfey's A Fool's Preferment in the year 1688. In the noun sense, first appeared in A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew in the year 1699, meaning "prig." Now obsolete. In the adjective sense, first appeared in Sir Richard Steele's The Funeral in the year 1702, meaning "consciously or affectedly strict or precise; stiffly formal and respectable." Oxford English Dictionary proposed a relation with primp and prink. Chiefly Scottish and U.S.
Unknown; see privet.
Related phrases
More for "prim"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.