Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Not fully grown or developed; young.
- adj. Of, relating to, characteristic of, intended for, or appropriate for children or young people: juvenile fashions.
- adj. Marked by immaturity; childish: juvenile behavior. See Synonyms at young.
- n. A young person; a child.
- n. A young animal that has not reached sexual maturity.
- n. An actor who plays roles of children or young persons.
- n. A children's book.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Young; youthful: as, a juvenile manner; a juvenile part in a play.
- Pertaining or suited to youth: as, juvenile sports or books.
- Synonyms Boyish, Puerile, etc. See youthful.
- n. A young person; a youth.
- n. A book written for young persons or children.
- n. Theat., an actor who plays youthful parts: as, a first juvenile.
Wiktionary
- adj. young; not fully developed
- adj. characteristic of youth or immaturity; childish
- n. a prepubescent child
- n. a person not legally of age, or who is younger than may be charged with an offence
- n. an animal that is not sexually mature
- n. an actor playing a child's role
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Young; youthful.
- adj. Of or pertaining to youth.
- adj. Characteristic of children; immature; childish; puerile; infantile.
- n. A young person or youth; -- used sportively or familiarly.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a young person, not fully developed
- adj. displaying or suggesting a lack of maturity
- adj. of or relating to or characteristic of or appropriate for children or young people
Etymologies
- Latin iuvenilis, from iuvenis ("young") (Wiktionary)
- Latin iuvenīlis, from iuvenis, young; see yeu- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“12 The term juvenile court is used here, but depending on the jurisdiction, the court may have other names such as family court or juvenile and domestic relations court.”
“You know, this is sort of what I call a juvenile approach to a serious problem," the Democrat said.”
“This is sort of what I call a juvenile approach to a serious problem.”
“Carey McWilliams reports that "actually the increase in juvenile delinquency among Mexicans was less than the average increase for the community and below that for one or two other special groups.”
“Is that Heinlein juvenile really the precise beginning?”
“The lies, deceit, obstructionism and just plain juvenile antics coming out of the Republican party is rising up like a cold dark cloud that threatens the very heart of America.”
Think Progress » Sen. Gregg Touts The CBO On Fox News, But Then Bashes It On CNN
“For all of those calling Palin juvenile names, I've not yet seen anyone here refer to Obama as Mr. Man-Boobs, so I'll run with that.”
“The more the loony left and the state-controlled media screams and engages in juvenile name calling and personal destruction tactics about Palin, the more you know they truly fear her and that she is connecting ...”
“And no it; s not that they don; t like us or our ways (thats just plain juvenile).”
“I must agree that Hiro needs to quit using certain juvenile phrases.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘juvenile’.
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birds
birds with singular names from
at least 9 English dictionariesaasvogel, aberdevine, accentor, accipiter, aepyornis, agami, albatross, alcatras, alcid, alcidine, amadavat, amokura and 1056 more...
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horses
everything horses
horse, bay, bloodhorse, bloodstock, bolter, broncho, bronco, brumby, bucker, buckjumper, cob, cocktail and 200 more...
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JURI - courtroom speak
Legal glossary with special focus on courtroom vocabulary
accused, acquittal, ADA, adjournment, adjudication, affidavit, affirmed, aggravated range, aggravating factors, allegation, alleged, answer and 794 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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The condom-free preserve
Italian-English false friends.
One a day, maybe even less.
Contributors: Prolagus, bilbypreservative, engross, camera, janitor, dent, fastidious, morbid, crude, juvenile, bald, confetti, pollution and 29 more...
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Scrabble words which start with the l...
juvenile, juvenal, jutty, jute, jut, justness, justly, justle, justify, justice, juster, just and 534 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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From Book - SAT & College Dictionary ...
ebb, exotic, immure, abeyance, panegyric, debonair, protege, dissipate, frantic, penitent, abject, edify and 871 more...
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deegee's Words
pay-per-view, vitriol, delectable, snarky, unflinching, forsake, pervasive, inconsequential, unnerving, allure, endearing, unalloyed and 414 more...
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cat 2012
mala fide, trafficking, impoverished, atrocity, divulge, personify, audacity, resurrect, dubious, bloated, sovereign, rein and 123 more...
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Words of the Day
glabella, chirotony, nook-shotten, crapehanger, filemot, swirlie, egosurf, lexiphanicism, Ruritanian, stichometry, chrononaut, faldstool and 2253 more...
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New GRE Preparation List
All the words which I encounter during my GRE studies. :)
rhetoric, errant, arrant, artless, artful, ephemeral, libel, rhapsody, cloy, conjecture, relegate, aberrant and 927 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate, amalgam and 1781 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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MISSGIVEN TITLES
words that i might put in my projects's titlte
medium, effigy, cineclub, ∞, guide, biscuit, voodoo, friends, spirit, palindrome, premium, minimus and 73 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for juvenile.

Prolagus Giovanile, in Italian, is used to describe a person that looks younger than he/she really is. It usually has the opposite effect: remarking the actual age of the person. Mar 28, 2009