puerile

See also puérile

English

Etymology

From Latin puerīlis (childish), from puer (child, boy).

Pronunciation

  • (RP) IPA: /ˈpjʊə.raɪl/, X-SAMPA: /"pjU@.raIl/
  • (US) IPA: /ˈpjʊrɪl/, /ˈpjʊraɪl/
  • (file)

Adjective

puerile (comparative more puerile, superlative most puerile)

  1. Characteristic of, or pertaining to, a boy or boys; confer: puellile.
  2. Childish; trifling; silly.
    • (Can we date this quote?) 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.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

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See also


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Italian

Adjective

puerile m and f (m and f plural puerili)

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

Synonyms

Related terms

Anagrams


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Latin

Adjective

puerīle

  1. nominative neuter singular of puerīlis
  2. accusative neuter singular of puerīlis
  3. vocative neuter singular of puerīlis
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Last modified on 10 February 2013, at 01:48