puritanical

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.

It highlighted societal changes in Saudi Arabia that allowed edgy American comedians to perform in a country long dismissed as irredeemably puritanical and regressive.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 23, 2025

The Jesus Army church recruited thousands of people to live in close-knit, puritanical communities in Northamptonshire, London and the Midlands.

From BBC • Jul. 28, 2025

It’s another element in Saudi Arabia’s about-face from a hermit kingdom notorious for puritanical laws to a tourist destination that can draw 150 million visitors a year.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 9, 2025

Then there's the "hustle culture" guys, who instead insist that puritanical self-deprivation is the key to masculinity: strict diets, elaborate workouts, overtime schedules that leave no time for a social life.

From Salon • Apr. 9, 2025

Other hobgoblins were the brainchildren of self-proclaimed experts who cooked up idiosyncratic theories of how language ought to behave, usually with a puritanical undercurrent in which people’s natural inclinations must be a form of dissoluteness.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker