English Explanatory Dictionary

straight-laced

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Having narrow views on moral matters; prudish.

Word forms

straight-laced more straight-laced straighter-laced most straight-laced straightest-laced straightlaced strait-laced straitlaced

Etymology

Widely agreed to have originated (centuries ago) in homophonic confusion (in speech) of strait-laced (“tight-laced”), but long since so widely accepted and used, because having such strongly apparent analogy with straight in its senses relating to orthodoxy and conformity (compare squareness), that it can no longer accurately be called erroneous; instead it is an established alternative form with its own reanalyzed surface analysis. Compare straitjacket with *straightjacket; the latter is still usually regarded as an error, but the relationship is analogous.

Synonyms

tight-laced stuffy
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