straight-laced

[streyt-leyst] / ˈstreɪtˈleɪst /

ADJECTIVE

strait-laced

Synonyms

WEAK

Victorian austere goody-two-shoes old-maidish priggish prim prissy proper prudish puritanical rigid square starchy stiff strict stuffy uptight

Antonyms

STRONGEST

permissive

WEAK

broad-minded

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.

A straight-laced family man with a Catholic upbringing, Becerra was more reserved during the debates — a quiet confidence that drew some voters to support him.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 9, 2026

Cornyn, by contrast, is a straight-laced institutional conservative who has represented Texas in the Senate since 2002 and built deep ties with the state's donor class and Republican leadership in Washington.

From Barron's • May 26, 2026

Mr. Johnson’s previous film was the slightly more straight-laced “BlackBerry,” about the rise and fall of the once-ubiquitous device.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 12, 2026

But they’ve also tried to be funny, whereas LinkedIn is a bit more straight-laced: There is no such thing as Weird LinkedIn.

From Slate • Nov. 10, 2023

Notice for yourself and you will find that every person who is really "straight-laced" is a person with a straight face—that is, a face with straighter up-and-down lines than the average.

From How to Analyze People on Sight Through the Science of Human Analysis: The Five Human Types by Benedict, Elsie Lincoln