stuffed shirts
Self-important bores
Stuffed shirts are people who behave in a pompous, self-important manner, typically clinging to conventional attitudes and formality.
The term suggests someone puffed up with their own sense of importance but lacking real substance—like a shirt stuffed with padding to create an impressive shape.
The board meeting was full of stuffed shirts who wouldn't consider any new ideas.
The singular stuffed shirt describes an individual of this type.
- fuddy-duddyOld-fashioned, overly fussy person
- stick in the mudStubbornly old-fashioned person
- blimpsNonrigid lighter-than-air vessels
- pedanticExcessively concerned with minor rules
- prigSmugly moralistic person
conservative · formality · puritanical · holier than thou · squares · stuffy · stiff upper lip · moralistic · self-importance · high and mighty · arrogance · vanity · condescension · pomposity · blowhards · elitism · old boys club · traditionalist
stuffed shirtsfree spirits
Independent, unconventional people
regular Joes · cool cats · nonconformists · bohemians · hippies
stuffed shirtsgood eggs
Dependable, likable people
sweethearts · people persons · social butterflies · mensch · salt of the earth
stuffed shirtsstraight shooters
Forthright, honest individuals
real deals · genuine articles · plain folks · regular people · common folk
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