naughty

Adjective

naughty (comparative naughtier, superlative naughtiest)

1. Mischievous; tending to misbehave or act badly (especially of a child).
   • Some naughty boys at school hid the teacher's lesson notes.
   • Ding dong bell,
     The Cat is in the well.
     Who put her in,
     Little Johnny Green.
     What a naughty boy was that,
     To drown poor Puſſy Cat,
     Who never did him any harm,
     And kill'd the mice in his father's barn.1795, Gammer Gurton's Garland, or, The Nursery Parnassus, Stockton: R. Christopher, page 25

   Synonyms:

   impish, misbehaved, impudent, sassy, audacious, bold, get wise, bold-faced, bold as brass, brassy

2. Sexually provocative; now in weakened sense, risqué, cheeky.
   • I bought some naughty lingerie for my honeymoon.
   • If I see you send another naughty email to your friends, you will be forbidden from using the computer!

   Synonyms:

   dirty, racy, saucy, adult, bawdy, blue, cheeky, indecent, filthy, gross

   Antonyms:

   innocent, nice

3. (informal) Decadent, had as indulgence, especially an unhealthy one.
   • 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

   Synonyms:

   cheeky, epicurean, sinful, voluptuary, Babylonian, decadent, epicureal, epicureous, epicurish, hedonic

4. (archaic) Evil, wicked, morally reprehensible.
   • my proneſſe to ſinne, and naughty appetites and desires, woulde drawe me headlong to the pitte of hell1589, 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]...

   Synonyms:

   baneful, nithing, sordid, abandoned, arrant, bad, bad apple, bad seed, baleful, scurrilous

5. (obsolete) Bad, worthless, substandard.
   • In Cornwall is two speches, the one is naughty Englysshe, and the other is Cornysshe speche.1542, Andrew Boorde, The First Boke of the Introduction of Knowledge
   • One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 24:2

   Synonyms:

   lousy, second-rate, two-bit, valueless, ass, bad, base, below par, bottom-shelf, BTEC