| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | particular, fussy |
| Synonyms: | Victorian, blue-nose, ceremonial, ceremonious, choosy, cleanly, conventional, correct, dapper*, decorous, demure, fastidious, formal, genteel, good, goody-goody, nice, nit-picking, orderly, overmodest, polite, precise, priggish, prissy, proper, prudish, puritanical, rigid, shipshape, spic-and-span, spruce, stickling, stiff, straight, strait-laced, stuffy, tidy, uncluttered, upright, well-groomed, wooden |
| Antonyms: | informal, rumpled |
| Main Entry: | careful |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | cautious; painstaking |
| Synonyms: | accurate, alert, apprehensive, assiduous, attentive, chary, choosy, circumspect, concerned, conscientious, conservative, cool, deliberate, discreet, exacting, fastidious, finicky, fussy, going to great lengths, guarded, heedful, judicious, leery, meticulous, mindful, observant, particular, playing safe, precise, prim, protective, provident, prudent, punctilious, regardful, religious, rigorous, scrupulous, selfdisciplined, shy, sober, solicitous, solid, thorough, thoughtful, vigilant, wary |
| Antonyms: | careless, inattentive, incautious, thoughtless, uncareful, unconcerned, unscrupulous |
| Main Entry: | courtly |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | refined manner |
| Synonyms: | adulatory, affable, aristocratic, august, ceremonious, chivalrous, civil, civilized, complimentary, conventional, cultured, decorous, dignified, elegant, flattering, formal, gallant, gracious, high-bred, imposing, lofty, obliging, polished, polite, preux, prim, refined, stately, studied, urbane |
| Antonyms: | impolite, indecorous, inelegant, low-bred, provincial, rough, uncivil, unpolished, unrefined |
| Main Entry: | dapper |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | well-groomed, neat |
| Synonyms: | bandbox, brisk, chic, chichi, classy, clean, dainty, dashing, doggy, dressed to kill, dressed to nines, jaunty, natty, nice, nifty, nimble, nobby, posh, prim, rakish, ritzy, sassy, sharp, showy, smart, snazzy, snug, spiff, spiffy, spruce, spry, stylish, swank, swanky, swell, trim, turned out, well turned out |
| Antonyms: | dirty, dishevelled, ruffled, rumpled, scruffy, shabby, sloppy, tousled, ungroomed, wrinkled |
| Main Entry: | decorous |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | appropriate, suitable |
| Synonyms: | au fait, becoming, befitting, ceremonial, ceremonious, civilized, comely, comme il faut, conforming, conventional, correct, de rigueur, decent, demure, dignified, done, elegant, fit, fitting, formal, good, mannerly, meet, moral, nice, polite, prim, proper, punctilious, refined, respectable, right, seasonable, sedate, seemly, staid, well-behaved |
| Antonyms: | impolite, inappropriate, indecent, indecorous, unbecoming, unfit, unrefined, unseemly, unsuitable |
| Main Entry: | demure |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | reserved, affected |
| Synonyms: | backward, bashful, blushing, close, coy, decorous, diffident, earnest, humble, modest, nice, prim, prissy, proper, prudish, reticent, retiring, sedate, serious, shy, silent, skittish, sober, solemn, staid, strait-laced, timid, unassertive, unassuming, unassured |
| Notes: | demur is the verb 'to object or voice opposition' while demure is the adjective meaning 'modest, shy' |
| Antonyms: | aggressive, bold, extroverted, outgoing, shameless, strong |
| Main Entry: | formal |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | stiff, affected, correct |
| Synonyms: | aloof, by the numbers, ceremonious, conventional, decorous, distant, exact, nominal, playing the game, polite, precise, prim, punctilious, reserved, seemly, sententious, starched, stilted, straight arrow, stuffy, unbending |
| Antonyms: | customary, informal, normal, relaxed, unaffected |
| Main Entry: | genteel |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | sophisticated, cultured |
| Synonyms: | affected, aristocratic, artificial, chivalrous, civil, confined, courteous, courtly, cultivated, distingué, elegant, fashionable, formal, graceful, hollow, intolerant, la-di-da, mannerly, noble, ostentatious, polished, polite, pompous, precious, pretentious, priggish, prim, prissy, prudish, refined, respectable, straitlaced, stuffy, stylish, urbane, well-behaved, well-bred, well-mannered |
| Notes: | genteel means marked by refinement in taste and manners; a gentile is a person who does not acknowledge your God or denotes a Christian as contrasted with a Jew; gentle means soft and mild or having or showing a kindly or tender nature |
| Antonyms: | boorish, callous, rough, rude, rugged, uncultured, unrefined, unsophisticated |
| Main Entry: | groom |
| Part of Speech: | verb |
| Definition: | make ready, prepare physically |
| Synonyms: | brush, clean, coach, comb, curry, dress, drill, educate, lick into shape, make attractive, make presentable, nurture, preen, prep, pretty up, prim, prime, primp, put through grind, put through mill, ready, refine, refresh, rub down, shape up, sleek, slick up, smarten up, spiff up, spruce up, tend, tidy, train, turn out |
| Antonyms: | forget, ignore |