prude

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“
I suppose the prude was afraid of my demolishing and unrigging her There seems to have been more danger of that for you than for any body else," said Belinda, as she assisted to set Mrs. Freke's rigging, as she called it, to rights I do of all things delight in hauling good people's opinions out of their musty drawers, and seeing how they look when they're all pulled to pieces before their faces!

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Definitions (5)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun One who is excessively concerned with being or appearing to be proper, modest, or righteous.
  2. Word History
    Being called a prude is rarely considered a compliment, but if we dig into the history of the word prude, we find that it has a noble past. The change for the worse took place in French. French prude first had a good sense, "wise woman,” but apparently a woman could be too wise or, in the eyes of some, too observant of decorum and propriety. Thus prude took on the sense in French that was brought into English along with the word, first recorded in 1704. The French word prude was a shortened form of prude femme (earlier in Old French prode femme), a word modeled on earlier preudomme, "a man of experience and integrity.” The second part of this word is, of course, homme, "man.” Old French prod, meaning "wise, prudent,” is from Vulgar Latin prōdis with the same sense. Prōdis in turn comes from Late Latin prōde, "advantageous,” derived from the verb prōdesse, "to be good.” Despite this history filled with usefulness, profit, wisdom, and integrity, prude has become a term of reproach.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • Henry isn't a prude, and he doesn't try to force his ideas on anybody else. —  108 - Men of Fear
  • Virginia was a bit of a prude, and M. Paul a pump,—yet were it but for old acquaintance sake, I determined on making a pilgrimage. —  The Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley V.1
  • Nobody likes to be called a prude or a goody-two-shoes (assuming the term isn't extinct). —  DesMoinesRegister.com - NEWS
  • Sorry if I come across as a prude, I am just not used to such things. —  Toytown Germany - Germany feed
  • It's nit-picking like this that gives lesbians the reputation of being prude, annoying, repetitive, and angry. —  AfterEllen.com - Because visibility matters
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This word has been looked up 169 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

jilt ·  prig ·  coxcomb ·  serein ·  stodginess ·  prudishness ·  nouvellement ·  high-brow ·  supremacist ·  nombreux ·  debar ·  travaille
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French, short for prude femme, virtuous woman : Old French prude, feminine of prud, virtuous; see proud + French femme, woman (from Latin fēmina; see feminine).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from French prude, Old French prude, prode, feminine of prou, prod, prud, good, excellent, brave: see prow.
 

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