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
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
Spider-Man's Word Web
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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.
Michael Laing, Durham County Council's corporate director for adult and health services, said an Adolescent Safeguarding and Exploitation team had been set up since Alfie's death, with support available for young people who needed it.
From BBC • Jan. 12, 2026
Adolescent brains are still developing into the early 20s, said psychologist Amy Orben, who leads a digital mental health programme at the University of Cambridge.
From Barron's • Dec. 1, 2025
Bradley Peterson is President of Evolve Psychiatry Professional Corporation and serves as an advisor to Evolve Adolescent Behavioral Health, where he holds stock options.
From Science Daily • Nov. 7, 2025
Christina Bethell, a social epidemiologist and director of the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative at Johns Hopkins University, said the pandemic had certainly exacerbated the mental health crisis affecting young people nationwide.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 1, 2024
Soon, someone somewhere decided to give it a proper name: Idiopathic Adolescent Acute Neurodegeneration—IAAN for short.
From "The Darkest Minds" by Alexandra Bracken
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.
