Hypertext Webster Gateway: "puritanical"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Puritanic \Pu`ri*tan"ic\, Puritanical \Pu`ri*tan"ic*al\, a.
1. Of or pertaining to the Puritans, or to their doctrines
and practice.
2. Precise in observance of legal or religious requirements;
strict; overscrupulous; rigid; -- often used by way of
reproach or contempt.
Paritanical circles, from which plays and novels
were strictly excluded. --Macaulay.
He had all the puritanic traits, both good and evil.
--Hawthorne.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
puritanical
adj 1: exaggeratedly proper; "my straitlaced Aunt Anna doesn't
approve of my miniskirts" [syn: {priggish}, {prim}, {prissy},
{prudish}, {square-toed}, {straitlaced}, {straightlaced},
{tight-laced}, {victorian}]
2: morally rigorous and strict; "blue laws"; "the puritan work
ethic"; "puritanic distaste for alcohol"; "she was
anything but puritanical in her behavior" [syn: {blue(a)},
{puritan}, {puritanic}]
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