How to Use puritanical in a Sentence

puritanical

adjective
  • The thugs take an interest in the girl, but are wary of their puritanical boss.
    Naomi Fry, The New Yorker, 24 Mar. 2018
  • Many writers in Paris in the 1930s took aim at our puritanical society and tried to open up ways of telling the truth about men and women and lust.
    Elaine Blair, The New York Review of Books, 21 Mar. 2019
  • Are you vexed by how puritanical the country is getting about books and art?
    Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 30 Nov. 2022
  • To the shock of no one, this puritanical line of thinking has already claimed its first victim.
    Isaac Schorr, National Review, 25 Aug. 2020
  • And then this puritanical force came in and replaced it.
    Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 18 Feb. 2021
  • The crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman, is trying to make the kingdom less puritanical.
    The Economist, 14 Dec. 2017
  • But there was a strong backlash against #MeToo, which was dismissed as a puritanical witch-hunt by the likes of Catherine Deneuve – and the same thing is happening again.
    The Week Uk, theweek, 7 Jan. 2024
  • The suspension of Dave Weigel for a retweet reflects a puritanical mindset on the left that is only getting worse over time.
    Noah Rothman, National Review, 7 June 2022
  • The hooded mannequins are one symbol of the Taliban’s puritanical rule over Afghanistan.
    Ebrahim Noroozi, BostonGlobe.com, 16 Jan. 2023
  • And in a puritanical twist, Donda is only available for sale and on streaming in its clean version.
    Justin Curto, Vulture, 30 Aug. 2021
  • In the puritanical form of writing that Whit teaches and that Jerry adopts, the motivation to write is simply the writing.
    Katie Walsh, Detroit Free Press, 14 Sep. 2017
  • In the puritanical form of writing that Whit teaches, and that Jerry adopts, the motivation to write is simply the writing.
    Katie Walsh, chicagotribune.com, 14 Sep. 2017
  • His puritanical decrees sucked the joy out of life as surely as mosquitoes suck blood.
    The Economist, 16 Dec. 2020
  • Well, it’s time to escape the puritanical garden tended by Apple and Google.
    Matthew De Silva, Quartz, 17 Dec. 2019
  • In the puritanical form of writing Whit teaches and Jerry adopts, the motivation to write is simply the writing.
    Katie Walsh, kansascity, 21 Sep. 2017
  • With the militants bent on imposing a puritanical form of Islam, the family packed their bags and fled.
    Kiana Hayeri, New York Times, 30 Sep. 2022
  • Compared to the chaos outdoors, the house itself possessed a surprising air of puritanical tidiness, even his study, which was bursting with books.
    László F. Földényi, Harper’s Magazine , 13 Mar. 2023
  • There is a chance that Western democracies will overcome the current waves of right-wing populism and left-wing moralism, but the prospects will be much better if the Elect can learn to temper their puritanical zeal.
    Ian Buruma, Harper's Magazine, 2 June 2023
  • In puritanical America, the taboo lingers more than in England.
    Christian Schneider, National Review, 21 Dec. 2023
  • A government officer with just a shade less puritanical integrity than Meigs could have made a mint for himself and his cronies, with the needs of the soldiers in the field coming a distant second.
    Allen Guelzo, WSJ, 2 Nov. 2016
  • In this way, television’s most racy show is also its most puritanical.
    Jenny Singer, Glamour, 3 Feb. 2023
  • City of Boston For all of its cultural and academic appeal, Boston has long been weighed down by its puritanical late-night scene.
    Diti Kohli, BostonGlobe.com, 22 Feb. 2023
  • With television’s new proximity to the more puritanical uses of our devices, the archetype of the beached sluggard on the couch has been smuggled into a portrait of diligence.
    Laurence Scott, The New Yorker, 6 July 2016
  • What’s a guy to do whose free-spirited life doesn’t adhere to puritanical normative hours?
    Jeff Gordinier, Esquire, 18 Oct. 2017
  • The root of it is our puritanical Calvinist attitudes about pleasure.
    Omar Sanchez, EW.com, 22 June 2020
  • Europeans can no longer snicker about the American puritanical streak, the old litmus test for our politicians.
    Nina Burleigh, The New Republic, 1 Aug. 2023
  • The French media were having a ball mocking the puritanical Americans.
    Thomas J. Baker, WSJ, 14 Jan. 2019
  • The world is probably not much improved — and may be much harmed — when the righteous take a puritanical stance toward the views and associations of teenagers who work at Mojo Burrito.
    Kevin D. Williamson, National Review, 18 Feb. 2022
  • Who, apart from the most puritanical and earnest among us, isn’t gripped by the dalliances of an older, powerful, priapic man and a younger, attractive, highly ambitious woman?
    Lara Prendergast, Harper's Magazine, 26 Oct. 2021
  • Living in lockdown without an answer, Ernst was among those who adhered to the most puritanical precautions.
    Camille Caldera, BostonGlobe.com, 29 Aug. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'puritanical.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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