prudishnessn.
/ˈpruːdᵻʃnᵻs/, U.S. /ˈprudᵻʃnᵻs/ The quality of being prudish; extreme or affected modesty or propriety, esp. in relation to sexual matters.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > affected behaviour or affectation > [noun] > affected propriety
prudery1708
primness1713
priggery1743
priggism1753
prudishness1760
priggishness1768
missishness1839
missiness1857
prigdom1873
prudity1891
Comstockery1905
prighood1906
nice nellyism1933
prissiness1934
1760 Hist. Marchioness de Pompadour: Pt. III 184 The important share she has lately taken in publick affairs, had thrown that starched prudishness into her words and actions.
1773 tr. C. M. Wieland Reason Triumphant over Fancy II. v. xii. 165 The eldest of them was now..able to laugh pretty smartly at my Prudishness, as she called it.
1840 T. Hood Up Rhine 64 A shrinking, delicate female, with sensitive feelings, nearly akin to prudishness.
1887 M. E. Braddon Like & Unlike I. vi. 159 She withdrew herself suddenly from her lover's arm, with a touch of prudishness.
1908 E. M. Forster Room with View ix. 165 He might have been shocked, for he had depths of prudishness within him.
1992 Chicago Tribune Bks. 20 Dec. 5/3 A conservative yet eccentric New England family that was ruled by a strong sense of propriety, even prudishness.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1760