puerile
adjective C2
Plain meaning
childish in a silly or annoying way
Exam-register meaning
immature, trivial, or intellectually childish
In context
naturalThe debate descended into puerile jokes.
examThe critic dismisses the argument as puerile because it avoids serious evidence.
Common collocations
puerile humourpuerile argumentpuerile behaviour
Watch out
Puerile is strongly negative; do not use it just to mean “for children”.
Word family
puerility (noun)puerilely (adverb, rare)