Idiom
prim and proper
Meaning
prudish, straight-laced
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“She always acts so prim and proper at dinner.”
“He wore a stiff suit and acted prim and proper to impress his new boss.”
“Despite the wild atmosphere of the party, she remained prim and proper, refusing to loosen her collar or join the dancing.”
Examples
simple
“She always acts so prim and proper at dinner.”
contextual
“He wore a stiff suit and acted prim and proper to impress his new boss.”
complex
“Despite the wild atmosphere of the party, she remained prim and proper, refusing to loosen her collar or join the dancing.”
Real-World Examples
“Similarly, the character of ‘Mary Poppins’, played by Julie Andrews, in the film of the same name, is often described as “prim and proper” due to her meticulous appearance and strict yet kind demeanour.” “The material was saucy but always delivered straight, in Tucker's prim-and-proper New England accent, and accompanied by little waves of a chiffon handkerchief.” “It's a bit square, never particularly surprising, yet very rich in its sense of creative people and their spirit of self-reinvention - the Outback girl refashioned as a prim and proper British lady, the Missouri farm boy who turned himself into a cross between Peter Pan and the Wizard of Oz.” “The Royal Box - preserved for all things illustrious, prim and proper - is meant to have the best seats in the house.” Key words
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