adolescent
Americanadjective
-
growing to manhood or womanhood; youthful.
-
having the characteristics of adolescence or of an adolescent.
noun
-
adolescents
plural
adjective
-
of or relating to adolescence
-
informal behaving in an immature way; puerile
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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)- ( see adult) + -ēsc- verb suffix + -ent- adjective suffix; see -esce, -ent
Explanation
Adolescent is just a fancy word for teenager — someone who is no longer a child but is not yet an adult. The word can also be used as an adjective. For example, a particular clothing line might be geared toward adolescent girls. This word refers to all things related to teens — teenagers are adolescent, and the adolescent stage is after puberty and before adulthood. Since adults don't have a high opinion of teenagers, this word is also an insult. Movies full of fart jokes and immature shenanigans are called adolescent. If one adult says to another "You're acting very adolescent" that means "You're acting childish." Adolescent means something close to juvenile, another word that refers to young people and childish people.
Vocabulary lists containing adolescent
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Made You Look: Synonyms for "Immature"
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -ant, -ent
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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.
See Examples For:
“He’s the richest man on Earth but he’s also sort of a stubborn adolescent at the same time,” Gibney says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
In Me and My Girl, he played a widow living with his adolescent daughter.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
With the market for video games now expanded well beyond the stereotype of adolescent boys, the team behind the new game says this time they are focusing on Lara as a strong character.
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
The reaction is swift, defensive and many times delivered with the vitriol of an adolescent facing the cosmic injustice of screen-time limits.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 21, 2026
“A few days after I injected them with the compound, they reverted to an adolescent stage.”
From "The Fourteenth Goldfish" by Jennifer L. Holm
Most of these medications are only licensed for children or adolescents older than this, but some doctors prescribe them off-label, and drug companies are testing them in children as young as six.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
Shelter and counseling can offer a lifeline to those vulnerable adolescents.
From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2026
The group included more than 60 children and adolescents recovered from multiple graves at Sigtuna, near Stockholm, Västerhus in Jämtland, and Fjälkinge in Skåne.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 27, 2026
Young adolescents who turn to chatbots for companionship feel more lonely, a new study says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
The younger boys were adolescents following fast in the path of their older siblings.
From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
