Link Centre Dictionary

adolescent

ado·les·cent

UK/ˌæd.əˈlɛs.ənt/ US/ˌædoʊˈlɛsʌnt/ uncommon
adjective (4) noun (1)

adjective

1.

relating to or peculiar to or suggestive of an adolescent

  • “adolescent problems”
2.

being of the age 13 through 19

  • “teenage mothers”
  • “the teen years”
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3.

displaying or suggesting a lack of maturity

  • “adolescent insecurity”
  • “jejune responses to our problems”
  • “their behavior was juvenile”
  • “puerile jokes”
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4.

in the state of development between puberty and maturity

  • “adolescent boys and girls”
Similar

noun

1.

Origin

First attested ?1440, from Middle English adolescent, from Middle French adolescent or directly from Latin adolescentem, accusative form of adolescens, present participle of adolēscere (“to become adult, grow up”), from ad- (“to”) + alēscere (“to grow or become nourished”). The adjective first appeared in 1785.

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.