primness
Excessive proper demeanor
Primness is the quality of being stiff, formal, and excessively concerned with propriety.
It suggests a disapproving attitude toward anything considered improper or indelicate: Her primness made everyone uncomfortable talking about the movie's love scenes.
The word carries a faintly mocking tone—primness is propriety taken to an unappealing extreme.
Fitting social conduct
- modestyAbsence of vanity
- decencyMoral appropriateness in behavior
- respectabilityMoral and social worthiness
- virtueMoral goodness or merit
prudishness · demureness · chastity · puritanism · uprightness · rectitude · morality · purity
Rules of polite conduct
- stiffnessResistance to deformation
- ceremoniousnessElaborate attention to protocol
- punctiliousnessStrict attention to detail
- correctnessState of being accurate
mannerliness · politeness · courtesy · protocol · rigidity · starched · unbending · fastidiousness
State of being neat
- orderlinessMethodical arrangement of things
- fastidiousnessExcessive concern for precision
- meticulousnessExtreme carefulness in details
- trimnessNeat, fit appearance
spruceness · immaculateness · preciseness · grooming · smartness · dapperness · sleekness · spotlessness
decorum
Fitting social conduct
- modestyAbsence of vanity
- decencyMoral appropriateness in behavior
- respectabilityMoral and social worthiness
virtue · prudishness · demureness · chastity · puritanism · uprightness · rectitude · morality · purity · genteelness
etiquette
Rules of polite conduct
- stiffnessResistance to deformation
- ceremoniousnessElaborate attention to protocol
- punctiliousnessStrict attention to detail
correctness · mannerliness · politeness · courtesy · protocol · rigidity · starched · unbending · fastidiousness · preciseness
tidiness
State of being neat
- orderlinessMethodical arrangement of things
- fastidiousnessExcessive concern for precision
- meticulousnessExtreme carefulness in details
trimness · spruceness · immaculateness · preciseness · grooming · smartness · dapperness · sleekness · spotlessness · cleanliness
- fastidiousnessneatness, tidiness, cleanliness, meticulousness, fussiness
- fussinessfussiness, pickiness, picky, nitpicky, persnickety
- prudishnesspriggishness, prissiness, puritanism, stuffiness, uptightness
- cleanlinessclean, cleanliness, clean up, dirty, neatness
- etiquettemanners, politeness, etiquette, table manners, courtesy
- stylestyle, stylish, chic, elegant, stylishness
primnesscasualness
Unstudied, relaxed demeanor
informality · relaxation · ease · looseness · easygoingness
primnessbroad-mindedness
Openness to differing views
permissiveness · liberality · open-mindedness · libertinism · tolerance
primnesswarmth
Heat you feel
cosiness · friendliness · geniality · cordiality · approachability
prime, primary, mince, primitive, primer, subprime, prim, primate, primeval