tight-laced s exaggeratedly proper Usage(s) The Journal announced itself horrified by the "cigaret-soaked indecencies" of the naughty '90s, and peddled the theory that tight-laced corsets were responsible for gallstones. Synonym(s) priggish prim prissy prudish puritanical square-toed straitlaced strait-laced straightlaced straight-laced victorian