Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of, relating to, or undergoing adolescence. See Synonyms at young.
- adj. Characteristic of adolescence; immature: an adolescent sense of humor.
- n. A young person who has undergone puberty but who has not reached full maturity; a teenager.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Growing up; advancing from childhood to manhood or womanhood; youthful.
- n. One who is growing up; a person of either sex during the period of adolescence.
- In physical geography, noting that stage of land-sculpture, between youth and maturity, in which some rapids still remain even in the larger streams.
Wiktionary
- adj. Characteristic of, or relating to, or undergoing adolescence; immature.
- n. A teenager; a juvenile after puberty
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Growing; advancing from childhood to maturity.
- n. A youth.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. relating to or peculiar to or suggestive of an adolescent
- adj. displaying or suggesting a lack of maturity
- n. a juvenile between the onset of puberty and maturity
- adj. in the state of development between puberty and maturity
- adj. being of the age 13 through 19
Etymologies
- First attested 1482, from Middle French adolescent, from Latin adolescentem, accusative form of adolescens, present participle of adolescere ("to become adult, grow up"), from ad- ("to") + alescere ("to grow or become nourished"). The adjective first appeared in 1785. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old French, from Latin adolēscēns, adolēscent-, present participle of adolēscere, to grow up : ad-, ad- + alēscere, to grow, inchoative of alere, to nourish; see al-2 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I agree with a lot of this, although I think it's complicated by the fact that the rise of the popular music industry was also fueled by an economic quirk: the post-WWII increase in adolescent disposable income.”
“Think about it: industrialist builds wealth by building stuff; rich heirs drift leftward and, in adolescent fashion, rail against the industry that provided them with their affluence.”
“Someone ought to do a study on how many times Americans have freaked out about a new trend in adolescent sexual habits.”
“We know that the adolescent is spontaneously homosexual.”
“In a world where political leaders lose themselves, like Wagnerian Gods, in adolescent diversions, great artists such as Wagner provide reminders of what's at stake when human beings fail to address the real issues at hand.”
The Huffington Post: Albert Imperato: My Takeaway From the Metropolitan Opera's New Rheingold
“The evidence strongly suggests that investing in adolescent girls is a key way to break inter-generational patterns of poverty.”
Voice of America: World Bank, Nike Team Up For 'The Girl Effect' Initiative
“Family therapy reduces stress symptoms in adolescent cancer survivors”
“The Craig-Dalsimer Division of Adolescent Medicine offers an innovative fellowship that is designed to prepare academic leaders in adolescent medicine.”
“The remaining portion of the first year is spent on the development of a research project in adolescent medicine, identifying a research topic and beginning to prepare a research proposal.”
“The principal responsibility of the fellow during the first year is the development of clinical skills in adolescent medicine.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘adolescent’.
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Your Mother
Joyess
cramp, crumble, cringe, slope, fling, prone, freckle, plank, frock, tramp, slump, crotch rot and 36 more...
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My daily Wordsheets
paramour, flail, addle, adduce, adduction, adenitis, adenocarcinoma, adhocracy, adiabatic, adipocyte, adiposity, postpone and 25 more...
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Words of Beauty
the images
iridescent, void, vacuum, rapture, chaos, melancholy, somnambulant, ethereal, somnolescent, caress, intimate, mellifluous and 13 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
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My Words
Words that I use regularly and consider mine.
zen, poser, savvy, angst, flustered, bitter, whatsoever, farfetched, indeed, scenario, inevitable, salvage and 134 more...
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cloudjuice's Words
schadenfreude, sordid, promulgate, erratic, erroneous, amalgamate, sesquipedalian, incongruous, psychosis, etymology, simulacrum, serendipity and 988 more...
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list1
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, ablution and 106 more...
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the name of the rose
pleasing words I encounter whilst reading umberto eco's novel of the same name.
matins, lauds, prime, terce, sext, nones, vespers, compline, usurper, simoniac, heresiarch, malefactor and 230 more...
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2007bee-r02
2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee Round 2
query, tendency, danceable, parachute, malignant, brutal, humanely, lyrically, deductible, shindig, gravel, embroidered and 274 more...
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the hate list
words that give me the heebidie jeebidies
suffragette, get 'er done, fringe, causeway, twee, jumper, tgif, actually, syringe, seltzer, raisin, whited sepulchre and 72 more...
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vaca 22000_4
vaca 22000_4
courtesy, rite, adult, adolescent, peer, bride, bridegroom, male, female, tomb, cathedral, buddhism and 9 more...
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TT3 Lesson 31
active, adolescent, adoption, brandy, canine, catheter, cavity, collapse, complain, coordinator, crew, cuddly and 31 more...
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adjectives
veritable, pejorative, pertinent, benign, gullible, specious, delinquent, evocative, delirious, snippy, pithy, lenient and 69 more...
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stages of life
newborn, bundle of joy, neonate, babe, nursling - A newborn infant, especially one less than four weeks old
cherub, baby, little one, infant, tot, yearling, babe in arms, papoose - a very you...newborn, bundle of joy, neonate, babe, nursling, cherub, baby, little one, infant, toddler, tween, adolescent and 21 more...
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Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
Words from 2008 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' film.
decent, delve, snorkel, balmy, linen, fiery, stroll, beat around the bush, reluctant, galling, subterfuge, candid and 44 more...
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pynchonesque
fondue, codicil, variorum, blowgun, disk jockey, malfunctioning, convoluted, grabassing, tranquilizers, hieroglyphic, hypodermic, diffusion and 83 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for adolescent.
vanishedone Actually, in this case I think it's just defining the adjectival use in terms of the noun use. Oct 10, 2008
Prolagus The Weirdnet paradox is back! Compare with shoddy. Oct 10, 2008