puerile

puerile Definition

pu·er·ile (pyo̵̅o̅′ər əl, pyo̵or′əl; -īl′)

adjective

childish; silly; immature; trivial

Etymology: < Fr or L: Fr puéril < L puerilis < puer, boy: see poultry

puerile Related Forms

pu′·er·ilely adverb

puerile Synonyms

modif.

boyish, young, inexperienced, immature; see childish 1, naive, young 2. See syn. study at young.

puerile Usage Examples

Modifies a noun

comment: Surely you must agree that his statement is a puerile comment from a man who should know better.
way: And it simply isn't an appropriate answer to say in a puerile way, ' Well, they started it!
humor: Not for the over-sensitive, South Park tackles pretty much any taboo you can think of with typically cynical and puerile humor.
gag: The best thing about it: Puerile schoolboy gags - they never get old.
banter: Every other thread both on here and the other place seem to contain a load of puerile banter about WAL and Shakerbaby.
joke: The rather touching concern from the other participants took the form of a string of predictably puerile jokes.

Modifying Another Word

rather: Three young couples, engaging in rather puerile and absurd conversations.
so: On the other hand would he be so puerile as to put blobs of red paint on one of my canvasses?

Used with adjective complement

seem: Plato seemed puerile, whimsical, full of unintelligible jargon.
become: The workers got quite tactile While they tried to keep their pride; And the humor became puerile When we ended up inside.

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