puritanism
Strict ascetic lifestyle
Puritanism is strict moral or religious behavior, especially an excessive concern with avoiding pleasure and enforcing rigid standards.
The word carries negative connotations—implying joylessness, repression, or judgmental attitudes toward others' conduct: Her puritanism about alcohol made her insufferable at parties.
The lowercase form emphasizes the attitude rather than the historical movement. (Capitalized Puritanism refers to the historical Protestant movement.)
Forcible prevention or concealment
- censorshipOfficial content restriction
- tabooCultural or social prohibition
- prohibitionAuthoritative legal ban
- inhibitionMental check on behavior
constraint · prudery · sternness · conformity · rigidity · killjoy · intolerance
Economical resource management
- abstinenceVoluntary forgoing of indulgences
- temperanceHabitual moderation in behavior
- asceticismSevere self-denial practice
- self-denialRestraining one's own desires
spartan · plainness · rigor · discipline · sobriety · restraint · severity · strictness
Moral straightness
- uprightnessMoral correctness and honesty
- integrityMoral soundness and consistency
- principlesFoundational moral beliefs
- decencyMoral appropriateness in behavior
probity · righteousness · duty · conscience · scruples · standards · virtue · honor
Adherence to inherited customs
- orthodoxyAdherence to accepted beliefs
- fundamentalismStrict adherence to core tenets
- patriarchyMale-dominated social order
- moresBinding social standards
norms · propriety · convention · old-fashioned · Victorian · restrictive · dogmatic · doctrinaire
suppression
Forcible prevention or concealment
- censorshipOfficial content restriction
- tabooCultural or social prohibition
- prohibitionAuthoritative legal ban
inhibition · constraint · prudery · sternness · conformity · rigidity · killjoy · intolerance
frugality
Economical resource management
- abstinenceVoluntary forgoing of indulgences
- temperanceHabitual moderation in behavior
- asceticismSevere self-denial practice
self-denial · spartan · plainness · rigor · discipline · sobriety · restraint · severity · strictness · penance
rectitude
Moral straightness
- uprightnessMoral correctness and honesty
- integrityMoral soundness and consistency
- principlesFoundational moral beliefs
decency · probity · righteousness · duty · conscience · scruples · standards · virtue · honor · propriety
traditionalism
Adherence to inherited customs
- orthodoxyAdherence to accepted beliefs
- fundamentalismStrict adherence to core tenets
- patriarchyMale-dominated social order
mores · norms · propriety · convention · old-fashioned · Victorian · restrictive · dogmatic · doctrinaire · legalistic
- fanaticismfanaticism, zealotry, zealot, fanatic, extremism
- prudishnessprimness, priggishness, prissiness, stuffiness, uptightness
- Puritanismmoral purity, prudery, prudishness, strictness, moral rigidity
- literaturebooks, book, fiction, poetry, stories
- abstinencesobriety, celibacy, chastity, teetotalism, fasting
- American LiteratureThe Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Scarlet Letter, Moby-Dick, Moby Dick
puritanismhedonism
Pursuit of gratification
libertinism · licentiousness · decadence · indulgence · debauchery
puritanismlibertinism
Unrestrained indulgence in pleasure
lechery · sexual liberation · prurience · pruriency · lasciviousness
puritanismbroad-mindedness
Openness to differing views
liberality · tolerance · permissiveness · open-mindedness · generosity
- puritanical viewsSeverely strict moral attitudes