Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun strict and austere religious conduct

Etymologies

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Examples

  • There was not a trace of Manicheanism in him, and he called puritanism, in his biography of Louis XIV, an “evil out of the pit”, meaning the pit of hell.

    Hilaire Belloc: Defender of the Faith 2007

  • To what degree this new puritanism is due to indoctrination or to the fear of retribution is a matter of speculation.

    Communist China—Time for Reappraisal 1959

  • But the Joyce-Eliot group come later in time, puritanism is not their main adversary, they are able from the start to ‘see through’ most of the things that their predecessors had fought for.

    Inside the Whale 1940

  • Having confessed, according to the terms of the text, that the field or ground is not the Church, but the world, he proceeds, with a very strong animus against what he calls puritanism or separatism, [14] to argue in the usual way against every attempt to purify the visible

    The Parables of Our Lord William Arnot

  • But you still hung, burnt at the pyre, slashed the throats, raped, murdered and pillaged the "savages" or those who would not adopt Christianity or your Victorian-era puritanism, which is responsible and has influenced much of the homophobia in many countries in Asia and Africa.

    AfterEllen.com - Because visibility matters 2009

  • But you still hung, burnt at the pyre, slashed the throats, raped, murdered and pillaged the "savages" or those who would not adopt Christianity or your Victorian-era puritanism, which is responsible and has influenced much of the homophobia in many countries in Asia and Africa.

    AfterEllen.com - Because visibility matters 2009

  • But you still hung, burnt at the pyre, slashed the throats, raped, murdered and pillaged the "savages" or those who would not adopt Christianity or your Victorian-era puritanism, which is responsible and has influenced much of the homophobia in many countries in Asia and Africa.

    AfterEllen.com - Because visibility matters 2009

  • But you still hung, burnt at the pyre, slashed the throats, raped, murdered and pillaged the "savages" or those who would not adopt Christianity or your Victorian-era puritanism, which is responsible and has influenced much of the homophobia in many countries in Asia and Africa.

    AfterEllen.com - Because visibility matters 2009

  • The business park was the outpost of an advanced kind of puritanism, and a virtually sex-free zone.

    Ballardian » The Office Park 2010

  • Note 64: Former partisan, D. Grizona, also refers to the 'puritanism' of the partisan leadership (Boutzouvi-Bania, 1993: 206). back

    Arms and the Woman: Just Warriors and Greek Feminist Identity 2008

Comments

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  • "Puritanism - The haunting fear that someone, somewhere may be happy."

    - H. L. Mencken.

    September 29, 2008