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Puerile vs Imbecile - What's the difference?

puerile | imbecile |

As adjectives the difference between puerile and imbecile

is that puerile is while imbecile is (dated) destitute of strength, whether of body or mind; feeble; impotent; especially, mentally weak.

As a noun imbecile is

(obsolete) a person with limited (l) (l) who can perform (l) and think only like a young child, in medical circles meaning a person who lacks the capacity to develop beyond the mental age of a normal five to seven-year-old child.

puerile

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Characteristic of, or pertaining to, a boy or boys; confer : puellile.
  • Childish; trifling; silly.
  • * (rfdate) De Quincey:
    • The French have been notorious through generations for their puerile affectation of Roman forms, models, and historic precedents.
  • * 1927 , , page 79:
    • From the table he had received the gout; from the alcove a tendency to convulsions; from the grandeeship a pride so vast and puerile that he seldom heard anything that was said to him and talked to the ceiling in a perpetual monologue; from the exile, oceans of boredom, a boredom so persuasive that it was like pain,—he woke up with it and spent the day with it, and it sat by his bed all night watching his sleep.
  • * '>citation

    • Synonyms

    * (childish): juvenile, silly, trifling,

    Derived terms

    * puerilism * puerility

    See also

    * boyish * yobbish * youthful ----

    imbecile

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) A person with limited (l) (l) who can perform (l) and think only like a young child, in medical circles meaning a person who lacks the capacity to develop beyond the mental age of a normal five to seven-year-old child.
  • (pejorative) A .

    • Usage notes

    * In modern times, “imbecile” is often used in (l) (l).

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * imbecilic (adjective) * imbecility (noun)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (dated) Destitute of strength, whether of body or mind; feeble; impotent; especially, mentally weak.
    • hospitals for the imbecile and insane