prim
Excessively neat, uptight
Prim describes someone excessively formal, proper, or easily shocked by anything improper.
A prim person purses their lips at crude jokes.
Prim manners are stiff and correct to the point of prudishness.
The word often carries mild disapproval—primness as constraint rather than genuine refinement: She was too prim to laugh at the joke.
Modestly reserved in manner
- reservedRestrained in manner
- modestLacking in pretension
- decorousSocially appropriate, dignified
- genteelAffectedly polite or refined
staid · prudish · strait-laced · buttoned-up · puritanical · priggish · Victorian · old-maidish
Free from clutter
- orderlyArranged with care
- preciseExactly correct, no error
- immaculateCompletely without blemish
- spotlessCompletely free of marks
spruce · shipshape · spick-and-span · groomed · dapper · trim · crisp · uncluttered
Contracted into wrinkles
- pinchedStole or squeezed tightly
- tight-lippedUnwilling to divulge
- sniffBrief nasal inhalation
- disdainfulShowing open contempt
haughty · censorious · judgmental · moralistic · reproving · schoolmarmish · frosty · stiff
demure
Modestly reserved in manner
genteel · staid · prudish · strait-laced · buttoned-up · puritanical · priggish · Victorian · old-maidish · starched
tidy
Free from clutter
- orderlyArranged with care
- preciseExactly correct, no error
- immaculateCompletely without blemish
spotless · spruce · shipshape · spick-and-span · groomed · dapper · trim · crisp · uncluttered · meticulous
pursed
Contracted into wrinkles
- pinchedStole or squeezed tightly
- tight-lippedUnwilling to divulge
- sniffBrief nasal inhalation
disdainful · haughty · censorious · judgmental · moralistic · reproving · schoolmarmish · frosty · stiff · unbending
- tidyneat, orderly, organized, tidied, uncluttered
- Latin Rootsact, cede, cent, cred, duct
- virtual worldsavatar, metaverse, sim, cyberspace, teleport
- Balkan folktambura, def, hora, czardas, traditional melodies
- Norwegian CheeseJarlsberg
- conformityconformity, conforming, conform, conformist, conformism
primdisheveled
Untidy in appearance
unkempt · slovenly · dishevelled · messy · tousled
- prime timeEvening TV's busiest window
- primary colorsUnmixable base pigments
- primary schoolEarly childhood education institution
- prime ministerLeader of a parliamentary state
- prime ribBone-in beef roast
- prime suspectMost probable perpetrator
prime, primary, primitive, primer, subprime, primal, primed, primate, primordial