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Puritan. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
Puritan, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
Puritan in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
Puritan you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
Probably from purity + -an, because they sought to purify Church of England worship of what they perceived as Roman Catholic aspects. The capitalised form preceded the lowercase form puritan.
Pronunciation
Noun
Puritan (plural Puritans)
- A member of a particular Protestant religious sect advocating greater purity and piety.
Translations
member of a particular Protestant religious sect
Adjective
Puritan (comparative more Puritan, superlative most Puritan)
- Alternative letter-case form of puritan.
1989, Michael Palin, Around the World in 80 Days, BBC Books, →ISBN, page 111:It’s a seedy time of the night and Jacky is telling me about sailors and their needs. A man called P. C. Alexander, an ex-Indian High-Commissioner in London has cleaned up Madras. There’s a very Puritan atmosphere here now, and the seamen are not happy. ‘All ship’s crew very happy with Calcutta. Can bring many girls there. Bombay too – no problem.’ Bombay is apparently the only city in India to license prostitutes.
2009, Melissa Stackhouse, “Conversations with Bigwigs: Melissa Stackhouse”, in Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl, Drink This: Wine Made Simple, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, →ISBN, chapter 5 (Chardonnay: Chic and Changeable), page 121:Chardonnay is very malleable, but once we get the fruit in we actually take a very Puritan approach to it.
2019, Susan L. Popham, “Teaching Editing through a Feminist Theoretical Lens”, in Suzan Flanagan, Michael J. Albers, editors, Editing in the Modern Classroom, Routledge, →ISBN:I learned to work from my grandfather, who held a very Puritan kind of work ethic.
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