prim and proper
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Early in her career, Swift had a reputation for being prim and proper.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 3, 2025
Not only are viewers watching boldface names eat, they’re also watching them eat foods that are considered distasteful — which goes against the prim and proper image that celebrities are expected to uphold.
From Salon • Jan. 29, 2024
"It's not this prim and proper stadium as it would be in Wembley or London. It is what we are as a community and what Luton is."
From BBC • May 16, 2023
Novelist Charlotte Brontë cemented Henry’s prim and proper vision, complaining in 1850 that “the Passions are perfectly unknown” to the late Austen.
From Washington Post • Mar. 6, 2020
That is to say, a statusconscious, prim and proper audience of sternly respectable burghers.
From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith
