Puppyism
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Extreme meanness, affectation, conceit, or impudence. countable, uncountable
"Marianne was spared from the troublesome feelings of contempt and resentment, on this impertinent examination of their features, and on the puppyism of his manner in deciding on all the different horrors of the different toothpick-cases presented to his inspection, by remaining unconscious of it all; for she was as well able to collect her thoughts within herself, and be as ignorant of what was passing around her, in Mr. Gray's shop, as in her own bedroom."
- 2 Youthful folly. countable, uncountable
"Lounging near the doors, and in remote corners, were various knots of silly young men, displaying various varieties of puppyism and stupidity; amusing all sensible people near them with their folly and conceit; and happily thinking themselves the objects of general admiration--a wise and merciful dispensation which no good man will quarrel with."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"Marianne was spared from the troublesome feelings of contempt and resentment, on this impertinent examination of their features, and on the puppyism of his manner in deciding on all the different horrors of the different toothpick-cases presented to his inspection, by remaining unconscious of it all; for she was as well able to collect her thoughts within herself, and be as ignorant of what was passing around her, in Mr. Gray's shop, as in her own bedroom."
Etymology
From puppy + -ism.
More for "puppyism"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.