naughty
Americanadjective
-
(esp of children or their behaviour) mischievous or disobedient; bad
-
mildly indecent; titillating
noun
Usage
What does naughty mean? Naughty means disobedient, mischievous, or generally misbehaving, particularly when applied to children. Naughty is usually used in reference to misbehavior that’s minor or mischievous, as opposed to more serious disobedience. In this way, it’s also sometimes applied to pets. Example: If you kids start to get naughty before bedtime, I’m going to take away your TV privileges. In a much different context, naughty is used to describe things that are sexually suggestive, as in naughty jokes, or things that pertain to sex, often in a way that’s hidden, forbidden, or secret. In this way, it is often used playfully or as a euphemism (a milder substitute of what is being referred to). Example: Oh my God, have you two been doing naughty stuff in the supply shed?
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of naughty
Explanation
Naughty describes someone — or someone’s pet — who is disobedient, bad, rascally, or otherwise poorly behaved. You might remember the word naughty by the way it sounds; think of it as containing the sound "not" as in "Naughty is what you get called when you get caught doing something you were NOT supposed to do!" While naughtiness may be in the eye of the beholder, every human culture seems to have its own version of naughty. For instance, those who celebrate Christmas and want to be on Santa’s “nice” list better avoid any naughty behaviors!
Vocabulary lists containing naughty
Words from Shakespearean Insults
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Oh, No! Synonyms for "Bad"
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Let's Go Caroling, List 2
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Children arrived naughty and finished like angels, full of ideas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
With Atkinson also on the naughty step, Robinson injured and Smith on paternity leave it means five changes.
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2026
GTA III in 2001 was a naughty revelation—a first-person, three-dimensional, open world of beauty and barbarity.
From Barron's ● May 21, 2026
His tics are not naughty mischief but an uncontrollable action.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2026
“Of especially naughty children, it is sometimes said, ‘They must have been raised by wolves,’” Lord Fredrick finally remarked, tapping his cigar into a bronze ashtray shaped like a fox.
From "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood
There’s the writing, thick with jokes, puns and the cognitive dissonance of little kids making references wiser and naughtier than their years.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2022
He thinks, wrongly, that they are naughtier than other children, and I feel defensive that he’s criticizing the way I’m raising them.
From Slate ● Aug. 2, 2019
Amundeep admits she was the naughtier of the pair.
From BBC ● Apr. 27, 2015
Her naughtier subjects have a wistful side, as well.
From New York Times ● Jan. 12, 2014
And I was way naughtier than either of my cousins.
From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah
The naughtiest Magnificent Seven stock is clearly Tesla.
From Barron's ● Dec. 25, 2025
In the run-up to the 2017 general election, then-prime minister Theresa May was asked to share the "naughtiest thing" she ever did in an interview with ITV News.
From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2024
When she was running for office, asked what was the naughtiest thing she did in her youth, May, a vicar’s daughter, answered that she once ran through a farmer’s field of wheat.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 18, 2019
Nor could the prime minister create a rapport with the electorate, earning derision when she declared that the naughtiest thing she ever did as a child was “run through fields of wheat”.
From The Guardian ● May 24, 2019
“All this stuff you’re doing. You’re probably the naughtiest student there’s ever been in our school. And you’re doing it all to save him.”
From "Wringer" by Jerry Spinelli
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
