From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishprimprim /prɪm/ adjective 1 OFFENDvery formal and careful in the way you speak and behave, and easily shocked by anything rude She looked prim and nervous in her best hat and coat. a very prim and proper young lady2 TIDYprim clothes are neat and formal a prim suit —primly adverb
Examples from the Corpus
prim• Her blush faded; she made herself prim.• a prim bouquet of white flowers• Sometimes a student would make a grammatical error in the course of an answer and Martinez would counter with a prim correction.• His mouth was set in a prim, pained expression of disapproval.• He had written her several letters, and had had two prim replies.Origin prim (1700-1800) Perhaps from Old French prin “excellent, fine”, from Latin primus; → PRIME1 