puerile

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Adjective 1.3.1 Synonyms 1.3.2 Derived terms 1.3.3 Translations 1.3.4 See also 2 Italian 2.1 Adjective 2.1.1 Synonyms 2.1.2 Related terms

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From Latin pueriliīs (“‘childish’”) < puer (“‘a child, a boy’”).

[edit] Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˈpjʊə.raɪl/, SAMPA: /"pjU@.raIl/
• (US) IPA: /ˈpjʊrɪl/, /ˈpjʊraɪl/
•  Audio (US)^{help, file}

[edit] Adjective

puerile (comparative more puerile, superlative most puerile)

1. Characteristic of, or pertaining to, a boy or boys; confer: puellile.
2. Childish; trifling; silly.
   • (A date for this quote is being sought): De Quincey:

     The French have been notorious through generations for their puerile affectation of Roman forms, models, and historic precedents.

   • 1927, Thornton Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, page 79:

     From the table he had received the gout; from the alcove a tendency to convulsions; from the grandeeship a pride so vast and puerile that he seldom heard anything that was said to him and talked to the ceiling in a perpetual monologue; from the exile, oceans of boredom, a boredom so persuasive that it was like pain,—he woke up with it and spent the day with it, and it sat by his bed all night watching his sleep.

[edit] Synonyms

• (childish): juvenile, silly, trifling,

[edit] Derived terms

• puerility

[edit] Translations

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[edit] See also

• boyish
• yobbish
• youthful

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[edit] Italian

[edit] Adjective

puerile m and f (m and f plural puerili)

1. puerile, childish, juvenile, boyish
2. (rare) children's (attribute), baby (attribute)

[edit] Synonyms

• infantile

[edit] Related terms

• puerilmente
• puerilicultura
• puerilità
• puerilismo