adolescent
Americanadjective
-
growing to manhood or womanhood; youthful.
-
having the characteristics of adolescence or of an adolescent.
noun
adjective
-
of or relating to adolescence
-
informal behaving in an immature way; puerile
noun
Other Word Forms
- adolescently adverb
- postadolescent adjective
- subadolescent adjective
Etymology
Origin of adolescent
First recorded in 1475–85; from Latin adolēscent- (stem of adolēscēns “growing up,” present participle of adolēscere ), equivalent to adol(ē)- ( adult ) + -ēsc- verb suffix + -ent- adjective suffix; -esce, -ent
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A humiliating incident in a pool surrounded by her repulsed classmates echoes an iconic scene from “Carrie,” with Ducournau crafting an analogy for traumatic adolescent rites of passage like menstruation.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026
The charity has a No Plan B for MenB campaign, aiming to introduce an adolescent booster by 2030 and make the vaccine more affordable on the high street.
From BBC • Mar. 26, 2026
"Cumulative trauma, cumulative adverse experiences and ongoing instability and unpredictability certainly put these children at higher risk... of developing psychiatric disorders and negative mental health outcomes," Evelyne Baroud, a child and adolescent psychiatrist told AFP.
From Barron's • Mar. 20, 2026
When the label was unsure what to do with the hyperactive adolescent then known as “Little Stevie Wonder.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026
As an adolescent, after his father’s death, Liszt and his mother moved to Paris, where he adopted French as his ‘first’ language.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
