Naughty Meaning
/ˈnɔːti/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjMischievous; tending to misbehave or act badly (especially of a child).
adjSexually provocative; now in weakened sense, risqué, cheeky.
Sentence Examples
There are a handful of naughty boys in my neighborhood.
How naughty you are! Stop bothering me!
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ child was sent to his room for breaking a vase.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ kitten kept jumping on the table and knocking over the flowers.
Word Origin & History
From late Middle English noughti, naughty (“evil, immoral, wicked”), from nought (“evil, immoral”) + -ī̆ (suffix forming adjectives). Analysable as naught + -y.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"You knew I had to include at least one naughty chocolate smoothie, didn't you?!"
— 2014 November 18, Amber Shea Crawley, Practically Raw: Flexible Raw Recipes Anyone Can Make, Andrews McMeel Publishing, →ISBN:
"my proneſſe to ſinne, and naughty appetites and desires, woulde drawe me headlong to the pitte of hell"
— 1589, John Bucke, Instructions for the Use of the Beades:
"[…]How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world."
— c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
"A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 17:4:
"Wholesome meats to a vitiated stomack differ little or nothing from unwholesome; and best books to a naughty mind are not unappliable to occasions of evill."
— 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ child was sent to his room for breaking a vase.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ kitten kept jumping on the table and knocking over the flowers.