prig
noun
[ prɪɡ ]
• a self-righteously moralistic person who behaves as if they are superior to others.
• "she was religious but not a prig"
Similar:
prude,
puritan,
killjoy,
Mrs Grundy,
Grundy,
pedant,
old maid,
schoolmarm,
Pharisee,
hypocrite,
pietist,
priggish person,
bluenose,
goody-goody,
goody two shoes,
holy Joe,
holy Willie,
Miss Prim,
stuffed shirt,
Tartuffe,
precisian,
Origin:
mid 16th century: of unknown origin. The earliest sense was ‘tinker’ or ‘petty thief’, whence ‘disliked person’, especially ‘someone who is affectedly and self-consciously precise’ (late 17th century).
