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:
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
The organizer of New York’s annual SantaCon bar crawl belongs on the naughty list, federal prosecutors said Wednesday, alleging he stole money that he claimed would go to charity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026
It served him right because he had been so monstrously naughty.
From "Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Made when Murphy was at peak stardom, the John Landis-directed romantic comedy plays like a dispatch from a more innocent era — and also, paradoxically, a naughtier, less inhibited one.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2021
His creations work equally well on the gallery wall, hung salon-style at Anton Kern in New York, or on Instagram, where the images are stripped down, even more existential and sometimes naughtier.
From New York Times ● May 6, 2020
Amundeep admits she was the naughtier of the pair.
From BBC ● Apr. 27, 2015
Another is the radical press, which also played a part in unmasking their naughtier enterprises, but which Moran merely dismisses as "trendy".
From The Guardian ● Jan. 10, 2013
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
“Trevor is so naughty. He’s the naughtiest child I’ve ever come across in my life.”
From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah
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.
