PRIM (primmed, primmer, primmest, primming)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: primmed    , primmer    , primmest    , primming   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does prim mean? 

• PRIM (adjective)
  The adjective PRIM has 2 senses:

1. affectedly dainty or refined

2. exaggeratedly proper

  Familiarity information: PRIM used as an adjective is rare.

• PRIM (verb)
  The verb PRIM has 3 senses:

1. assume a prim appearance

2. contract one's lips

3. dress primly

  Familiarity information: PRIM used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PRIM (adjective)

Comparative: primmer   
Superlative: primmest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Affectedly dainty or refined

Synonyms:

mincing; niminy-piminy; prim; twee

Similar:

refined ((used of persons and their behavior) cultivated and genteel)

Derivation:

primness (excessive or affected modesty)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Exaggeratedly proper

Synonyms:

priggish; prim; prissy; prudish; puritanical; square-toed; straight-laced; straightlaced; strait-laced; straitlaced; tight-laced; victorian

Context example:

my straitlaced Aunt Anna doesn't approve of my miniskirts

Similar:

proper (marked by suitability or rightness or appropriateness)

Derivation:

primness (exaggerated and arrogant properness)

primness (excessive or affected modesty)

• PRIM (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Assume a prim appearance

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

They mince and prim

Hypernyms (to "prim" is one way to...):

change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Contract one's lips

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

She primmed her lips after every bite of food

Hypernyms (to "prim" is one way to...):

compact; compress; constrict; contract; press; squeeze (squeeze or press together)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Dress primly

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

prim; prim out; prim up

Hypernyms (to "prim" is one way to...):

apparel; clothe; dress; enclothe; fit out; garb; garment; habilitate; raiment; tog (provide with clothes or put clothes on)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

 Context examples 

As for you, Amy, continued Meg, you are altogether too particular and prim.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I had left him calm in his bearing, correct in his person, prim in his dress.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His eyes still smouldered, but his features regained their prim composure in an instant.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was a very long street of two-story brick houses, neat and prim, with whitened stone steps and little groups of aproned women gossiping at the doors.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was my first visit to the scene of the crime—a high, dingy, narrow-chested house, prim, formal, and solid, like the century which gave it birth.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In uttering these words I looked up: he seemed to me a tall gentleman; but then I was very little; his features were large, and they and all the lines of his frame were equally harsh and prim.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

On the other throne there was perched bolt upright, with prim demeanor, as though he felt himself to be upon his good behavior, a little, round, pippin faced person, who smiled and bobbed to every one whose eye he chanced to meet.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I'll be as prim as I can and not get into any scrapes, if I can help it.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

And, finally, could this be the austere and prim figure which had risen before the meeting at the Zoological Institute?

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This was when I chanced to see the third-storey staircase door (which of late had always been kept locked) open slowly, and give passage to the form of Grace Poole, in prim cap, white apron, and handkerchief; when I watched her glide along the gallery, her quiet tread muffled in a list slipper; when I saw her look into the bustling, topsy-turvy bedrooms,—just say a word, perhaps, to the charwoman about the proper way to polish a grate, or clean a marble mantelpiece, or take stains from papered walls, and then pass on.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)