naughty

adjective

ˈnȯ-tē How to pronounce naughty (audio)
Definition of naughtynext
as in mischievous
engaging in or marked by childish misbehavior told her to act her age and stop throwing temper tantrums like a naughty little girl

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of naughty People would hang from windows, encouraging you to do naughty things, and my thumb has never been sorer from back-and-forth gestures. — Matthew MacConnell, Forbes.com, 2 July 2026 Has Greta eaten or chewed on anything naughty? — Breanne L. Heldman, PEOPLE, 13 June 2026 The play was naughty stuff in 1925, when the show, starring Tallulah Bankhead, got banned. — Sheldon Pearce, New Yorker, 15 May 2026 His tics are not naughty mischief, but an uncontrollable action. — Katie Walsh, Boston Herald, 24 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for naughty
Recent Examples of Synonyms for naughty
  1. mischievous
  2. bad
Adjective
  • KidSuper founder Colm Dillane has always had a mischievous side.
    — Jean E. Palmieri, Footwear News, 9 Oct. 2026
  • In practice, this mischievous presence ping-pongs between maternal lies and the wholesale impersonation of other people.
    — Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of mischievous
Adjective
  • But then came the nightmare of Game 3, one of the Sox’s worst performances in weeks.
    — Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 9 Oct. 2026
  • Specifically, people with worse fever tended to have more of a protein called flagellin in their systems than those with little to no fever.
    — Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 9 Oct. 2026
Definition of bad

Browse Nearby Words

naughts
naughty
nausea
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Cite this Entry

“Naughty.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/naughty. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

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