Noun: puritan pyûr-i-tun
- Someone who adheres to strict religious principles; someone opposed to sensual pleasures
"The puritan refused to attend the dance, considering it too frivolous"
- A person excessively concerned about propriety and decorum
"He was labelled a puritan for objecting to the risqué jokes at the party";
- prude, bluenose [US, informal]
- 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
Derived forms: puritans, Puritans
Type of: abstainer, ascetic, disagreeable person, Protestant, unpleasant person
Encyclopedia: Puritan, Ohio