prissiness
Overly fastidious manner
Prissiness is fussy, overly proper behavior that seems excessive or affected.
Someone showing prissiness is easily offended by crude language, insists on rigid etiquette, or recoils from anything messy or vulgar: His prissiness about table manners made dinner uncomfortable.
The word carries a note of mockery—prissiness suggests the person's standards are more precious than principled.
Excessive concern over trivialities
- pretentiousnessShowy self-importance
- airsPretentious behavioral displays
- preciousnessQuality of being treasured
- daintinessRefined, petite elegance
snobbery · haughtiness · pomposity · snootiness · stuffiness · self-importance · superciliousness · condescension
Refined sensitivity or rarity
- oversensitivityExcessive emotional reactivity
- queasinessMild stomach disturbance
- distasteMild aversion or dislike
- aversionIntense dislike or repugnance
discomfort · fastidiousness · finickiness · faint-heartedness · timidity · shrinking · wincing · cringing
Excessive concern with decorum
- puritanismRigid moral severity
- modestyAbsence of vanity
- demurenessModest, reserved quality
- proprietyCorrectness of conduct
stuffiness · Victorianism · squeamishness · inhibition · repression · censoriousness · moralism · stuffiness
Excessive concern over trivialities
- pickinessExcessive selectivity in choosing
- finickinessExcessive attention to detail
- persnicketyExcessively concerned with details
- nitpickinessExcessive attention to flaws
particularity · meticulousness · perfectionism · exactingness · choosiness · daintiness · neatness · tidiness
fussiness
Excessive concern over trivialities
- pretentiousnessShowy self-importance
- airsPretentious behavioral displays
- preciousnessQuality of being treasured
daintiness · snobbery · haughtiness · pomposity · snootiness · stuffiness · self-importance · superciliousness · condescension · smugness
delicacy
Refined sensitivity or rarity
- oversensitivityExcessive emotional reactivity
- queasinessMild stomach disturbance
- distasteMild aversion or dislike
aversion · discomfort · fastidiousness · finickiness · faint-heartedness · timidity · shrinking · wincing · cringing · disgust
prudery
Excessive concern with decorum
- puritanismRigid moral severity
- modestyAbsence of vanity
- demurenessModest, reserved quality
propriety · stuffiness · Victorianism · squeamishness · inhibition · repression · censoriousness · moralism · stuffiness · narrow-mindedness
fussiness
Excessive concern over trivialities
- pickinessExcessive selectivity in choosing
- finickinessExcessive attention to detail
- persnicketyExcessively concerned with details
nitpickiness · particularity · meticulousness · perfectionism · exactingness · choosiness · daintiness · neatness · tidiness · preciseness
- Affected Speechaffectation, airs, pretentiousness, posh accent, overenunciation
- fussinessfussiness, pickiness, picky, nitpicky, persnickety
- Fussy traitsfussy, nitpicking, finicky, persnickety, pernickety
- prudishnesspriggishness, puritanism, stuffiness, uptightness, strait-laced
- Puritanismpuritanism, moral purity, prudery, prudishness, strictness
- self-righteousnesssanctimony, self-righteousness, moralism, holier-than-thou, judgmentalism
prissinessinformality
Relaxed, unofficial tone
casualness · easygoingness · relaxedness · nonchalance · looseness
prissinessearthiness
Unpretentious, primal quality
bawdiness · coarseness · crudeness · vulgarity · ribaldry
prissinessinsouciance
Lighthearted lack of concern
breeziness · uninhibitedness · naturalness · spontaneity · abandon
prim, prissy, primly, primness, prissily, prissies, prissier, prissiest