How to Use straitlaced in a Sentence

straitlaced

adjective
  • The first one is a little more straitlaced and straightforward.
    — Tim Grierson, Vulture, 11 July 2025
  • Even the most straitlaced coppers are just one misstep away from operating on the wrong side of the law.
    — Olivia-Anne Cleary, Vulture, 23 Mar. 2021
  • People love to see the weird fringes of straitlaced cultures, and Mormons are easy pickings.
    — Peggy Fletcher Stack, The Salt Lake Tribune, 25 Sep. 2022
  • Chen's novel is about a straitlaced heroine pulled into a counterfeit-handbag scheme.
    — The Week Staff, The Week, 30 Jan. 2023
  • Referencing hobbies, especially more niche ones, might be frowned upon in more straitlaced sectors but may help your case in a more creative industry.
    — Sarah Jackson, CNBC, 4 Feb. 2026
  • So too did the one at Disney Hall, in the wake of a performance that, despite being a bit too straitlaced in tempo, had an obliterating impact.
    — Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 24 Mar. 2022
  • Plus, there’s the fact that many more young people are toying with a sober-curious lifestyle, forgoing alcohol completely in favor of more straitlaced beverages.
    — Tori Latham, Robb Report, 30 Jan. 2023
  • The typical hire was an athletic, straitlaced college graduate in his late twenties or early thirties who served in the military or worked for a local police department.
    — CBS News, 14 May 2021
  • Six decades after the fact, even a straitlaced researcher such as myself can still wonder about a thing or two—an ex-CIA guy here, a Cuban paramilitary group there.
    — Kaitlyn Tiffany, The Atlantic, 20 June 2026
  • Journalism here is serious business — akin to a sacred vocation, actually — and its practitioners are straitlaced and earnest.
    — Thomas Doherty, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Dec. 2022
  • These misfit progeny get a shot at redemption, far from their nefarious parents, and attend a straitlaced boarding school teeming with the children of Disney sweethearts.
    — Ew Staff, EW.com, 1 July 2024
  • Take, for example, the collection’s Architect jacket, which references a straitlaced British look, with square proportions and a three-button front.
    — Aleks Cvetkovic, Robb Report, 4 Sep. 2022
  • But the union, which endorsed the straitlaced Lacey, immediately clashed with Gascón, arguing that his softer prosecution policy would lead to an increase in crime.
    — NBC News, 2 Jan. 2021
  • As her foil, Spencer is stuck in a fairly thankless role as the straitlaced straight woman, her aptitude for wisecracking and comedic timing subsumed to McCarthy's wilder energy.
    — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 9 Apr. 2021
  • This timeless comedic tandem — where Lucy's zany antics collided with Ricky's straitlaced demeanor — kept generations in stitches for a remarkable 180 episodes.
    — James Mercadante and Johnny Loftus, EW.com, 22 Sep. 2023
  • Doherty, then 19, became a superstar in the early ’90s playing the straitlaced but short-tempered Brenda Walsh as the show became a guilty pleasure for a generation.
    — Ethan Sacks, NBC News, 14 July 2024
  • The straitlaced brothers are tasked with explaining complicated matters such as tax codes or SARS, and inevitably do so by singing an absolutely nonsensical, content-free song.
    — Jesse Hassenger, Vulture, 21 Jan. 2022
  • Hottinger would prefer someone like Senator Rob Portman, the straitlaced fiscal conservative whose retirement created the vacancy Vance hopes to fill.
    — Time, 7 July 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'straitlaced.' 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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