cheekier; cheekiest
informal
: boldly rude, impudent, or disrespectful in usually a playful or appealing way
a cheeky grin
… old-timers who still look like they could deck you if you get too cheeky.Shaun Assael
cheekily adverb
cheekiness noun

Examples of cheeky in a Sentence

a cheeky comment about something that was none of her business
Recent Examples on the Web Made from waves of synthesized guitar, crashes of percussion and a cheeky bell, the track finds the duo at their most playful. Katie Bain, Billboard, 22 Mar. 2024 Dunkin’ is giving one of their classic coffee orders a cheeky new name. Antonia Debianchi, Peoplemag, 20 Mar. 2024 McGregor’s cheeky performance (his first scene is hysterical) leads to a cacophony of bloody, outrageous fights with Brandt. Randy Myers, The Mercury News, 20 Mar. 2024 The cheekiest detail of the skinny denim pantshoes? Liana Satenstein, Vogue, 14 Mar. 2024 In 2014, my company was first launched as an image consulting firm under the cheeky namesake Kaistyled. Stephanie Tharpe, Forbes, 12 Feb. 2024 The couple celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary last year with another typically cheeky post from Koma. Becca Longmire, Peoplemag, 12 Mar. 2024 This last was presented by a nearly nude John Cena, in a cheeky nod to the infamous streaker incident at the Oscars, fifty years ago—a nice touch in a show unafraid to acknowledge its own history. Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 11 Mar. 2024 Henry’s first adult romance novel, Beach Read, came out in 2020 and follows its romance-author protagonist in a summer bet with her hunky neighbor (a literary fiction author) to convince him of the genre’s merit—a cheeky meta-commentary of sorts about her own writing. Cnt Editors, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cheeky.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

see cheek entry 1

First Known Use

1838, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of cheeky was in 1838

Dictionary Entries Near cheeky

Cite this Entry

“Cheeky.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cheeky. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

cheeky

adjective
cheekier; cheekiest
: showing disrespect : rude, impudent
cheekiness noun

More from Merriam-Webster on cheeky

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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