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Puritan
Definitions
- 1 Acting or behaving according to the Puritan morals (e.g. propagating modesty), especially with regard to pleasure, nudity and sex; ascetic. derogatory, usually
"A pietistic protestantism, rigid, self-righteous, unintellectual, obsessed with puritan morality to the point where hypocrisy was its automatic companion, dominated this desolate epoch."
- 2 Alternative letter-case form of puritan. alt-of
"It’s a seedy time of the night and Jacky is telling me about sailors and their needs. A man called P. C. Alexander, an ex-Indian High-Commissioner in London has cleaned up Madras. There’s a very Puritan atmosphere here now, and the seamen are not happy. ‘All ship’s crew very happy with Calcutta. Can bring many girls there. Bombay too – no problem.’ Bombay is apparently the only city in India to license prostitutes."
- 1 A puritanical person. derogatory, usually
"These new puritans have turned out to be surprisingly unskilled and inexperienced - very different from my generation who invented wife-swapping, orgies and free love in the late Sixties and early Seventies."
- 2 A member of a particular Protestant religious sect advocating greater purity and piety.
- 3 a person excessively concerned about propriety and decorum wordnet
- 4 someone who adheres to strict religious principles; someone opposed to sensual pleasures wordnet
- 5 a member of a group of English Protestants who in the 16th and 17th centuries thought that the Protestant Reformation under Elizabeth was incomplete and advocated the simplification and regulation of forms of worship wordnet
Etymology
See Puritan.
See Puritan.
Probably from purity + -an, because they sought to purify Church of England worship of what they perceived as Roman Catholic aspects. The capitalised form preceded the lowercase form puritan.
Probably from purity + -an, because they sought to purify Church of England worship of what they perceived as Roman Catholic aspects. The capitalised form preceded the lowercase form puritan.
See also for "puritan"
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Unscramble this word: puritan