puerile
8
9.1
- adjective
- /ˈpjʊəraɪl/
- Offensive
:
pueril
- What does emerge clearly, however, is the vitality of Virgil's "accident," this "lightweight, puerile" invention for starting the war.
- puerile and childish
- just puerile
- rather puerile
Examples
-
Courbet's joke of awarding himself the longest beard in The Meeting was, on one level, rather puerile.
Academic text (2004) -
How, in the name of Jehosaphat, did we ever elect this puerile, petty man as President of the United States?
Blog text (33) -
If the reasons seem puerile and easily attacked, then I hope you will attack them.
Blog text (2) -
It's nothing more than puerile male-bonding now.
-
Your work is puerile and under-dramatized.
-
I think we can both agree that most of the music played on the radio is puerile, unenlightening, and putrid.
Blog text (1) -
I read all kinds of things, but everything seemed trivial and puerile after that, and I feigned sickness.
-
The original article, while somewhat puerile, got snickers from most readers of both sexes.
Blog text (25) -
The change in the culture didn't occur because of stunts akin to PZ's puerile shenanigans.
Blog text (1) -
His puerile behavior during the meeting made everyone question his professionalism.
Synonyms
141
2.8
Acting like a child instead of like an adult
61
4.2
Acting in an immature or childish way
24
4.4
Showing immature or childish behavior
21
6.5
Acting like a young child in a silly or immature way
3
3.0
Acting or speaking like a baby and seeming childish
1
9.9
A boring idea or story that has little real meaning
Acting like a child in a simple, not serious way
Antonyms
How Childish
Surface Forms
Etymology
Puerile comes from the Latin puer, which means 'boy' or 'child'. So puerile means 'child-like', and that is why we use it for behaviour that is childish, silly, or immature.