Puerile

//ˈpjʊə.ɹaɪl// adj

adj ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Childish; trifling; silly.

    "1850, Thomas De Quincey, French and English Manners (originally published in Hogg's Instructor The French have been notorious through generations for their puerile affectation of Roman forms, models, and historic precedents."

  2. 2
    Characteristic of, or pertaining to, a boy or boys; compare puellile.
Adjective
  1. 1
    displaying or suggesting a lack of maturity wordnet
  2. 2
    of or characteristic of a child wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
childishinfantilejuvenileharebrainedadolescentasinine

Example

More examples

"What puerile behaviour! Grow up!"

Etymology

From Latin puerīlis (“childish”), from puer (“child, boy”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.