Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- the principles and practices of the Puritans.
- (sometimes lowercase) extreme strictness in moral or religious matters, often to excess; rigid austerity.
1570s, from Puritan + -ism. Originally in reference to specific doctrines; from 1590s of excessive moral strictness generally. In this sense, famously defined by H.L. Mencken (1920) as “the haunting fear that someone, somewhere may be happy.”