NAUGHTY (naughtier, naughtiest)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: naughtier    , naughtiest   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does naughty mean? 

• NAUGHTY (adjective)
  The adjective NAUGHTY has 2 senses:

1. suggestive of sexual impropriety

2. badly behaved

  Familiarity information: NAUGHTY used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• NAUGHTY (adjective)

Comparative: naughtier   
Superlative: naughtiest   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Suggestive of sexual impropriety

Synonyms:

blue; gamey; gamy; juicy; naughty; racy; risque; spicy

Context example:

spicy gossip

Similar:

sexy (marked by or tending to arouse sexual desire or interest)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Badly behaved

Context example:

a naughty boy

Similar:

bad (having undesirable or negative qualities)

Derivation:

naughtiness (an attribute of mischievous children)

 Context examples 

Some are naughty through mismanagment or neglect, and some lose their mothers.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I dared commit no fault: I strove to fulfil every duty; and I was termed naughty and tiresome, sullen and sneaking, from morning to noon, and from noon to night.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Oh, you naughty boy, fie for shame, what do you do so far away from home?

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“I’ll be good,” she said, as a naughty child might say it. “I promise—”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

“Ah, Sir Bertrand knows, the naughty one!” cried the Lady Rochefort.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The Professor only raised his great eyebrows, as the schoolmaster meets the irrelevant observation of the naughty boy.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They knocked at the door, and when the woman opened it and saw that it was Hansel and Gretel, she said: You naughty children, why have you slept so long in the forest? —we thought you were never coming back at all!

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Jo would turn up her naughty nose at some of the finest, because she has no soul for art, but I have, and I'm cultivating eye and taste as fast as I can.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Jip, you naughty boy, come here!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I wonder what sort of a girl she is—whether good or naughty.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)