Word.ws English Dictionary

puriteen

Syllables: pu·ri·teenUK/ˈpjʊə.ɹɪˌtiːn/US/ˈpjʊ.ɹɪˌtin/

puriteen noun: a teenager or young adult (especially an LGBTQ or LGBTQ-supportive member of Gen Z) whose views on sexuality are seen as sex-negative or moralistic.

Noun

puriteen (plural puriteens)

  1. (Internet, derogatory) A teenager or young adult (especially an LGBTQ or LGBTQ-supportive member of Gen Z) whose views on sexuality are seen as sex-negative or moralistic.
    • “Sorry to all the puriteens who will never know the unfettered joy of taking your top off inside the Stonewall Inn,” said one prominent activist on Twitter. “I hope you never know the pain of being beaten by a cop for standing up for queer rights.”2021 June 14, EJ Dickson, “Are Sex-Negative ‘Puriteens’ Actually Taking Over the Internet?”, in Rolling Stone
    • Young puriteens have recently been seen on social media moralizing about large age gaps in adult relationships and partaking in the perennial “No Kink at Pride” debate.2021 July 30, Maddie Holden, “Gen Z Are 'Puriteens,' But Not For The Reasons You Think”, in GQ

Forms of puriteen

pluralpuriteens
alternative formpuri-teen

Origin of puriteen

Blend of puritan + teen. Popularized on Twitter in March 2021.

Questions about puriteen

What does puriteen mean?
Puriteen means a teenager or young adult (especially an LGBTQ or LGBTQ-supportive member of Gen Z) whose views on sexuality are seen as sex-negative or moralistic.
What part of speech is puriteen?
Puriteen is a noun.
How do you pronounce puriteen?
Puriteen is pronounced /ˈpjʊə.ɹɪˌtiːn/ (UK).
What is the plural of puriteen?
The plural of puriteen is puriteens.

Words near puriteen in the dictionary

  1. puritanlike
  2. puritanly
  3. Puritano
  4. Puritanos
  5. puritans
  6. puriteen
  7. puriteens
  8. purities
  9. puritogen
  10. Puriton
  11. purity

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: puriteen (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “puriteen.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/puriteen. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.