as in conservative
a person with old-fashioned ideas
the stuffed shirts in this organization don't seem to realize that without new blood our extinction is inevitable
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Recent Examples of stuffed shirt
With his piano-pounding performances, wild vocals, bouffant hair and makeup, Little Richard burst onto the musical scene in the 1950s and shook up the stuffed shirts with a string of his hit songs that got both black and white people dancing.
—
NBC News, 9 May 2020
Karen Knorr’s photos of the private members’ clubs of London in the early 1980s are full of stuffed shirts wearing gleaming brogues.
—The Economist, 25 Feb. 2020
For this case, he has been contracted by a bunch of white-haired stuffed shirts with medals on their chests to find anyone who enabled the Kansas City suicide bombers, who crossed into the United States via the Mexican border.
—Katie Walsh, Detroit Free Press, 28 June 2018
NBC News, 9 May 2020
Karen Knorr’s photos of the private members’ clubs of London in the early 1980s are full of stuffed shirts wearing gleaming brogues.
—The Economist, 25 Feb. 2020
For this case, he has been contracted by a bunch of white-haired stuffed shirts with medals on their chests to find anyone who enabled the Kansas City suicide bombers, who crossed into the United States via the Mexican border.
—Katie Walsh, Detroit Free Press, 28 June 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stuffed shirt
Noun
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Those comments largely served as a testament to the staunch conservative’s willingness to work across the aisle to secure funding for his district.—
Kacen Bayless,
Kansas City Star,
1 Apr. 2026
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The court, in which conservatives hold a 6-3 majority, will decide whether to uphold its 1898 ruling that a man born in San Francisco to Chinese parents could be an American citizen.—
Phaedra Trethan,
USA Today,
1 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The play, like the movie, is loosely based on a robbery that took place in 1972, on a boiling-hot August day, when an eccentric, deep-in-debt Vietnam veteran named John Wojtowicz entered a Chase bank in Brooklyn with a gun and two accomplices, hoping for a quick score.—
Emily Nussbaum,
New Yorker,
2 Apr. 2026
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Tickets are $15, general admission; and $10 for veterans, students, seniors, and PWD.—
Christina Mayo,
Miami Herald,
2 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Genetic examination showed the latest find was unambiguously a dog, domesticated and living off human food; until now, fossils of true dogs were not known until 10,000 years ago.—
Tom Chivers,
semafor.com,
27 Mar. 2026
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The innovation platform said that by allowing renewable and fossil-based feedstocks to mix, while matching the amount of renewable input to an equivalent share of output through audits, mass balance can reduce the risk of producers overselling their credentials.—
Jasmin Malik Chua,
Sourcing Journal,
26 Mar. 2026
Noun
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In Zac’s report, Schoonmaker addressed Powell’s legendary filmmaking partnership with Emeric Pressburger, which spawned films such as The Red Shoes, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and Black Narcissus.—
Jesse Whittock,
Deadline,
22 Aug. 2025
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Powell is perhaps best known for his creative partnership with Emeric Pressburger, which produced some of the most brilliant British films of the 20th century, including The Life of Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), A Matter of Life and Death (1946), Black Narcissus (1947) and The Red Shoes (1948).—
Lily Ford,
HollywoodReporter,
30 July 2025
Noun
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This man performed in all of Shakespeare’s plays, Assumed all parts from mossbacks to boys young.—
Richard Lederer,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
28 Sep. 2019
Noun
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Now the 10% is for stubborn old fogies who refuse to change their ways and try something new.—
Chris McKeown,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
14 Feb. 2026
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Old fogey-ish, ungrateful and stupid.—
Katie Hafner,
Scientific American,
10 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Stuffed shirt.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stuffed%20shirt. Accessed 3 Apr. 2026.
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