as in puritanism
a tendency to care a great deal about seemly behavior and morals especially in sexual matters
the prudishness of the people of the Victorian era was a hindrance to the dissemination of some basic information on human health and hygiene
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Recent Examples of Synonyms for prudishness
Noun
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The anti-pop animus of classic rock criticism reflected nothing so much as a neurotic puritanism, or maybe just a snobbish inability to hear the deep beauty of pop.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
29 Mar. 2026 -
Inevitably, puritanism is going to come out and come back and go away.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
27 Nov. 2024
Noun
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To say anything else, many feminists now argue, would be to infantilize her, to subordinate her—to the state, to moralism—rather than acknowledge her mastery of her own body.—
S. C. Cornell,
New Yorker,
5 Jan. 2026
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Much of Ian MacKaye’s progressive moralism comes from his Episcopal upbringing.—
Chris R. Morgan,
The Washington Examiner,
22 Aug. 2025
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“Prudishness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/prudishness. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
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