Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. One who has attained maturity or legal age.
- n. Biology A fully grown, mature organism.
- adj. Fully developed and mature.
- adj. Relating to, intended for, or befitting adults: adult education.
- adj. Containing or dealing in explicitly sexual material; pornographic: adult movies; adult bookstores.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Having arrived at mature years, or attained full size and strength: as, an adult person, animal, or plant.
- Pertaining or relating to adults; suitable for an adult: as, adult age; an adult school.
- n. A person or (sometimes) an animal grown to full size and strength; one who has reached the age of manhood or womanhood.
- n. Specifically: In civil law, a male infant who has attained the age of fourteen, or a female infant who has attained the age of twelve.
- n. In common law, one of the full age of twenty-one.
Wiktionary
- n. A fully grown human or animal.
- n. A person who lives outside the parental home.
- adj. Of a human or animal, fully grown.
- adj. Intended for adults rather than children.
- adj. Containing material of an explicit sexual nature
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Having arrived at maturity, or to full size and strength; matured.
- n. A person, animal, or plant grown to full size and strength; one who has reached maturity.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a fully developed person from maturity onward
- n. any mature animal
- adj. designed to arouse lust
- adj. (of animals) fully developed
Etymologies
- French adulte, Latin adultus ("grown up"), past participle of adolescere ("to grow up"); see adolescent. (Wiktionary)
- From Latin adultus, past participle of adolēscere, to grow up; see adolescent. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“WORDS ACCENTED ON THE LAST SYLLABLE: address _address'_ adept _adept'_ adult _adult'_ ally _ally'_ commandant _commandänt '(ä as in arm) _ contour _contour'_ dessert _dessert'_ dilate _dilate'_ excise _eksiz'_ finance _finance'_ grimace _grimace'_ importune _importune'_ occult _occult'_ pretence _pretence'_ research _research'_ robust _robust'_ romance _romance'_ tirade _tirade'_”
“In 1980, when the term adult child of alcoholic, ACOA was coined, ACOAs literally came out of the woodwork, testifying in droves to confusion, resentment...”
“In 1980, when the term adult child of alcoholic, ACOA was coined, ACOAs literally came out of the woodwork, testifying in droves to confusion, resentment and hurt that the child within them still hung onto.”
“Please use the term adult offspring in your online expectorations.”
“When it comes to the term adult soft drink, taste is a priority," claimed Dewey.”
“/You have already to a great extent targeted the population since the word adult is used.”
“The kid understood or at least gave the appearance of understanding, but the years passed and he became what they call an adult and the rats in his mind are still dead, still young.”
“Reznor walks me into what he calls his "adult playpen of knob-twiddling": a small garage converted into an Aladdin's cave of instruments, mixing desks and synthesizer modules, their lights winking in the dark.”
The Guardian: Trent Reznor: 'I'm not at war with myself as I once was'
“You know, there's pop; there's what they call adult contemporary, whatever that may be; and then there's like Sting music.”
“If he's sentenced to prison, which is the most likely outcome if he is convicted, it will be in the hands of what we call the adult authority, which run the prisons themselves.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘adult’.
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EU Buzz - ALL words and expressions
A combined list of
1. EU Buzz - single words
2. EU Buzz - collocations
3. EU Buzz - the 100 most active
collocation constituentsabsorption capacity, absorption rate, acceding country, accession candidate, accession countries, accession country, accession criteria, accession cycle, accession negotia..., accession partner..., accession priorities, accession treaty and 2650 more...
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EN - academic vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3119 more...
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Describing People
eye, hair, mouth, nose, tooth, head, face, arm, hand, finger, lip, leg and 212 more...
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Words that start with A
alphabet, alligator, ate, actual, annual, activity, analyze, ability, astronaut, add, ape, aches and 20 more...
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Whooping Crane
Words for the Whooping Crane Alphabet book
ultralight, patuxent, maryland, wisconsin, florida, people, chick, juvenile, adult, swamp monster, teach, learn and 48 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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Theme Prompts
There's a fiction meme (mostly on Livejournal) where writers use words as a prompt for a short story snippet. I've been collecting the words that show up on these lists as prompts for creative writ...
white, black, gray, red, orange, yellow, green, indigo, violet, queen, king, prince and 407 more...
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Permutations
There are 17576 different sequences of three letters (26 x 26 x 26). How many of them occur in words? General rules of engagement: mononyms only, lower case preferred to upper case, short preferred...
aaargh, niqaabi, Isaac, raad, baaed, haaf, laager, aah, kamaaina, Naajaat, aak, aalii and 637 more...
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Oxford 3000
Oxford 3000 is a list of the most common 3000 words in the English language publishe by OUP.
The keywords of the Oxford 3000 have been carefully selected by a group of language experts and ex...a, an, abandon, abandoned, ability, able, unable, about, above, abroad, absence, absent, absolute and 65 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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TT2 Lesson 20
acknowledge, act, adult, affection, age, agreement, authority, awesome, bogus, bother, common, commonplace and 58 more...
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I'm Terrible With Names
Generic descriptors for a person that don't tell you anything about him or her (except, perhaps, that person's gender, age, or social class). Nice and anonymous. Useful at cocktail parties.
you, he, she, him, her, guy, man, woman, boy, girl, kid, lady and 46 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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Martina is
reticent, obsessive-compulsive, procrastinator, optimistic, compassionate, artistic, modest, syncretic, teenager, adult, student, benevolent and 1 more...
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Mnemonics: Guitar Strings
From sixth to first (in order added)
Tweets
Looking for tweets for adult.
qroqqa BrE speakers strongly prefer the stress /'æd-/ to /-'dʌlt/ (84% in a 2007 survey for the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary). Aug 4, 2008
oroboros Daffynition: one who's stopped growing at both ends and now grows just in the middle. Jan 6, 2007