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Etymology
Origin of puerility
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English word from Latin word puerīlitās. See puerile, -ity
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:
The school officials’ contention that C.G.’s post was “hate speech targeting the Jewish community” was as dumb as his joke and confused puerility with animosity.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 27, 2022
Has “The Tonight Show’s” current host, Jimmy Fallon, ever seethed with anything, unless one can seethe with puerility?
From New York Times ● Apr. 10, 2017
Why doesn’t any of this evidence of puerility hurt his image among his base?
From Slate ● Oct. 28, 2016
The duo is signed to Fueled by Ramen, an imprint probably best known for putting out the work of Fall Out Boy, and they share an insistent puerility and melodic flamboyance with their pop-punk labelmates.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 24, 2016
I turned over the leaves, read and laughed, read again and found the puerility at least poetical.
From The Rebellion in the Cevennes, an Historical Novel Vol. II. by Ludwig Tieck
It is a mass of trivialities and puerilities; to recite it would be to make even a barber or a bartender beg for mercy.
From Time Magazine Archive
Others question this, declaring that it is only because he is capable of Arising from puerilities to superlatives, that his best seems better than another man's.
From Time Magazine Archive
Reid's work, he concedes, has "puerilities and longueurs."
From Time Magazine Archive
But never, in all this history of feuds and charley-horses, have these two famous universities been driven apart by such puerilities as those which caused the decision of the Princeton Board.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the cold light of the following day, after-dinner confidences, even with the best-beloved, have a way of showing up all their puerilities and inadequacies.
From The Real Man by Francis Lynde
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.
