Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Like a miss; prim; affected; lackadaisical.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Like a miss; prim; affected; sentimental.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective dated prim and prudish

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word missish.

Examples

  • A girl of seventeen -- a girl with a "missish" name, with a "missish" face as well, soft skin, bright eyes, dark hair, medium height and a certain amount of coquetry in her attire.

    Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 11, No. 23, February, 1873 Various

  • But it seemed stiff and "missish" to refuse -- she must do now as his world did.

    Beyond John Galsworthy 1900

  • "missish" to refuse -- she must do now as his world did.

    Complete Project Gutenberg John Galsworthy Works John Galsworthy 1900

  • I bowed, and they inclined their heads and looked at me with that bold, appraising stare which Russian women use - they're not bashful or missish, those ladies.

    The Sky Writer Geoff Barbanell 2010

  • Without any of the missish hesitation or nervousness she'd expected would assail her.

    Hero Come Back Laurens, Stephanie 2005

  • And I was so proud of my own strength; so sure that I should never be missish, and spoony, and sentimental!

    Framley Parsonage 2004

  • There was a maudlin, missish, namby-pamby sentimentality about them which disgusted her.

    The Last Chronicle of Barset 2004

  • Lucy had grown bigger in her eyes while sitting there and talking, and had lost much of that missish want of importance — that lack of social weight — which Lady Lufton in her own opinion had always imputed to her.

    Framley Parsonage 2004

  • To her mind — even to most other minds — her age and status as an almost-confirmed apeleader freed her from missish considerations of virginity.

    The Perfect Lover Laurens, Stephanie 2003

  • No missish sentiment, no modesty was strong enough to distract her from the sensuous delight of his fingers, the strength of his hands, the pleasure they conjured.

    The Perfect Lover Laurens, Stephanie 2003

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Of, resembling, or characteristic of a young lady or schoolgirl; affectedly demure, prim, coy, squeamish, sentimental. See chained_bear's comment at anthropophagy.

    February 24, 2008

  • That's weird. I could've sworn I added this word already. I checked my list and it was missishness, though.

    February 24, 2008

  • I thought that was odd too (that you hadn't added it already)--goes to show what we know. ;-)

    Damned hard to say, though.

    February 25, 2008