Link Centre Dictionary

puritan

pu·ri·tan

UK/ˈpjʊəɹɪtən/ US/ˈpjʊɹɪtən/ uncommon
noun (2) adjective (1)

noun

1.

adheres to strict religious principles; opposed to sensual pleasures

2.

adjective

1.

morally rigorous and strict

  • “blue laws”
  • “the puritan work ethic”
  • “puritanic distaste for alcohol”
  • “she was anything but puritanical in her behavior”
Synonyms
Similar

Origin

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.

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.