nice-nelly 1 of 2

adjective

ˈnīs-ˈne-lē How to pronounce nice-nelly (audio)
Definition of nice-nellynext
as in Victorian
given to or marked by very conservative standards regarding personal behavior or morals the novel's wildly off base portrayal of 18th-century aristocrats as nice-nelly exemplars of decorum

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

nice nelly

2 of 2

noun

as in puritan
a person who is greatly concerned with seemly behavior and morality especially regarding sexual matters some nice nelly bowdlerized this collection of wartime ditties that were lustily sung by the men around the campfire

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for nice-nelly
  1. Victorian
  2. puritan
  3. puritanical
Adjective
  • For their 2023 gingerbread house, she was inspired by San Francisco’s classic Victorian architecture.
    Jordan Greene, People.com, 20 Dec. 2024
  • Going even further back, scholars say that the fascination can be traced to a swirling blizzard of nostalgia, music, popular literature, the rise of Victorian mass culture ‒ and even the Little Ice Age.
    Doyle Rice, USA TODAY, 20 Dec. 2024
Definition of Victorian
Noun
  • Centuries after being burned at the stake, a witch named Jennifer (Veronica Lake) magically reappears and tries to torment the descendant of the puritan who led the charge against her — only to fall in love with him.
    Clark Collis, EW.com, 18 Oct. 2024
  • Naysayers and scene puritans are too late to tear down Turnstile; the Baltimore band heard it all before its third album even dropped anyway.
    Pitchfork, Pitchfork, 1 Oct. 2024
Definition of puritan
Adjective
  • Babygirl tries to deftly waltz over this minefield of a topic without a sense of puritanical judgement or heavy panting, but with as much emphasis on Romy’s need for this transfer of power to tap into her erogenous zones.
    David Fear, Rolling Stone, 23 Dec. 2024
  • Gein was born in 1906 to an alcoholic father and an allegedly fanatically puritanical mother, according to the MGM+ docuseries Psycho: The Lost Tapes of Ed Gein.
    Jordana Comiter, People.com, 23 Nov. 2024
Definition of puritanical
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Thesaurus Entries Near nice-nelly

nice nelly

nice-nelly

nice-nellyism

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Cite this Entry

“Nice-nelly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nice-nelly. Accessed 6 Jan. 2025.

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