PUERILE Synonyms: 114 Similar and Opposite Words

puerile

adjective

ˈpyu̇(-ə)r-əl

as in childish

having or showing the annoying qualities (as silliness) associated with children told the teenagers that such puerile behavior would not be tolerated during the ceremony

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as in immature

lacking in adult experience or maturity allowed the company to be taken over by a bunch of puerile whippersnappers fresh out of business school

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as in goofy

lacking in seriousness or maturity the kind of puerile jokes that teenage moviegoers apparently love

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Examples of puerile in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Trump is, always and forever, a puerile bully, stuck perpetually on the fifth-grade playground. —

Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker, 14 Mar. 2024 The inexplicable twists are interspersed with puerile action scenes. —

Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 13 Feb. 2024 Hoping to usurp him from the throne, Kuzco's advisor, Yzma (Eartha Kitt), cooks up a plot to poison the puerile figurehead. —

Devin Nealy, EW.com, 16 Oct. 2023 As legal weed proliferates across the country, many storefronts have adopted a sterile, corporate aesthetic, while others lean into puerile graphics of, say, red-eyed Rick and Morty smoking blunts. —

Ezra Marcus, New York Times, 30 Jan. 2024 See all Example Sentences for puerile

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'puerile.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.