puritan

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Pu·ri·tan

(pyo͝or′ĭ-tn)

1. A member of a group of English Protestants who in the 1500s and 1600s advocated strict religious discipline along with simplification of the ceremonies and creeds of the Church of England.

2. puritan A person who is very strict or austere in religious practice or moral outlook, especially someone who regards pleasure or luxury as sinful.

adj.

1. Of or relating to the Puritans or Puritanism.

2. puritan Characteristic of a puritan; puritanical.

[From Late Latin pūritās, purity (on the model of Medieval Latin Kathari, "the Pure Ones," a third-century sect of rigorist heretics), from Latin pūrus, pure; see peuə- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

puritan

(ˈpjʊərɪtən)

a person who adheres to strict moral or religious principles, esp one opposed to luxury and sensual enjoyment

adj

characteristic of a puritan

[C16: from Late Latin pūritās purity]

ˈpuritanˌism n

Puritan

(in the late 16th and 17th centuries ˈpjʊərɪtən)

1. (Protestantism) any of the more extreme English Protestants, most of whom were Calvinists, who wished to purify the Church of England of most of its ceremony and other aspects that they deemed to be Catholic

2. (Historical Terms) any of the more extreme English Protestants, most of whom were Calvinists, who wished to purify the Church of England of most of its ceremony and other aspects that they deemed to be Catholic

adj

3. (Historical Terms) of, characteristic of, or relating to the Puritans

4. (Protestantism) of, characteristic of, or relating to the Puritans

ˈPuritanˌism n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

Pu•ri•tan

(ˈpyʊər ɪ tn)

n.

1. a member of a group of Protestants that arose in the 16th century within the Church of England, demanding the simplification of doctrine and worship and greater strictness in religious discipline.

2. (l.c.) a person who is strict in moral or religious matters.

adj.

3. of or pertaining to the Puritans.

4. (l.c.) puritanical.

[1540–50; < Late Latin pūrit(ās) purity]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun	1.	Puritan - a member of a group of English Protestants who in the 16th and 17th centuries thought that the Protestant Reformation under Elizabeth was incomplete and advocated the simplification and regulation of forms of worship Protestant - an adherent of Protestantism
	2.	puritan - someone who adheres to strict religious principles; someone opposed to sensual pleasures abstainer, ascetic - someone who practices self denial as a spiritual discipline
	3.	puritan - a person excessively concerned about propriety and decorum prude disagreeable person, unpleasant person - a person who is not pleasant or agreeable

puritan

noun

1. moralist, fanatic, zealot, prude, pietist, rigorist He delighted in dealing with subjects that enraged puritans.

adjective

1. strict, austere, puritanical, narrow, severe, intolerant, ascetic, narrow-minded, moralistic, prudish, hidebound, strait-laced Paul has always had a puritan streak.

Quotations
"The Puritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators" [Lord Macaulay History of England]

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

puritan

noun

A person who is too much concerned with being proper, modest, or righteous:

bluenose, Mrs. Grundy, prude, Victorian.

Informal: old maid.

Translations

بيوريتاني: مُتَزَمِّت في أمور الدّينمُتَزَمِّت ، مُتَشَدِّد

-kapuritán

asketpuritaner

Puritaner

πουριτανός

puritain

puritán

púrítanipúrítani, siîavandur/strangtrúaîur maîur

puritano

puritonaspuritoniškas

puritānis

puritaner

puritanismo

puritán

Püritensofta/bağnaz kimse

清教徒道德或宗教上极拘谨的人

puritan

[ˈpjʊərɪtən]

A. ADJ → puritano

B. N → puritano/a m/f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

Puritan

[ˈpjʊərɪtən] n (RELIGION) → puritain(e) m/f

puritan

[ˈpjʊərɪtən] n (= puritanical person) → puritain(e) m/f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

puritan

(Rel: also Puritan)

adj → puritanisch

n → Puritaner(in) m(f)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

puritan

[ˈpjʊərɪt/ən] adj & n → puritano/a

puritan

(ˈpjuəritən) noun

1. a person who is strict and disapproves of many kinds of enjoyment.

2. formerly, in England and America, a member of a religious group wanting to make church worship etc simpler and plainer.

ˌpuriˈtanical (-ˈtӕ-) adjective

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

So Grandfather talked about the Puritans, {Foot Note: It is more precise to give the name of Pilgrims to those Englishmen who went to Holland and afterward to Plymouth.

Meantime, those of the Puritans who remained in England continued to suffer grievous persecution on account of their religious opinions.

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By that plain arrangement of the hair, by that costume of extreme simplicity, by the brow polished like marble and as hard and impenetrable, she recognized one of those gloomy Puritans she had so often met, not only in the court of King James, but in that of the King of France, where, in spite of the remembrance of the St.

"I am in the hands of my enemies," continued she, with that tone of enthusiasm which she knew was familiar to the Puritans. "Well, let my God save me, or let me perish for my God!

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As England grew Puritan, the people began to look askance at the theater, for the Puritans had always been its enemies.

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I've remarked that your Puritans revel in that color."

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There were the sober garb, the general severity of mien, the gloomy but undismayed expression, the scriptural forms of speech, and the confidence in Heaven's blessing on a righteous cause, which would have marked a band of the original Puritans, when threatened by some peril of the wilderness.

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Cavaliers and Puritans. The Civil War and the Commonwealth.

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Into this festal season of the year -- as it already was, and continued to be during the greater part of two centuries -- the Puritans compressed whatever mirth and public joy they deemed allowable to human infirmity; thereby so far dispelling the customary cloud, that, for the space of a single holiday, they appeared scarcely more grave than most other communities at a period of general affliction.

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A natural spring of soft and pleasant water--a rare treasure on the sea-girt peninsula where the Puritan settlement was made--had early induced Matthew Maule to build a hut, shaggy with thatch, at this point, although somewhat too remote from what was then the centre of the village.

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"Once it was the Puritan Fathers who left our coasts," he is recorded to have said; "nowadays it is our Prodigal Sons."

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For now, while so quietly Lying, it fancies A holier odor About it, of pansies -- A rosemary odor, Commingled with pansies -- With rue and the beautiful Puritan pansies.