strait-laced

 
Pronunciation: /streɪtˈleɪst/
(also straight-laced)

adjective

  • having or showing very strict moral attitudes: his strait-laced parents were horrified

As an adjective strait means ‘narrow or cramped’ and ‘strict or rigorous’: the idea behind strait-laced and straitjacket is of being tightly laced or confined. As strait is now old-fashioned and unfamilar, however, people often interpret it as the more usual word straight. Straight-laced and straightjacket are now generally accepted in standard English, and the spelling straight-laced is more common than strait-laced in the Oxford English Corpus.

Spelling help

Strait-laced can also be spelled straight-laced: both are correct.