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
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
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.
See Examples For:
Opera came calling, it was a wild, if exciting, adolescent company.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026
Sometimes, rousing our dormant inner adolescent is a job for a very old monster with a rock and roll heart where his soul should be.
From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2026
“They make me feel less alone,” says Grace, and she and Susanna can both quote from Plath’s “The Bell Jar,” a cherished touchstone of every sensitive adolescent.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
The researchers combined data from 12 studies involving 235 women and adolescent girls.
From Science Daily ● May 27, 2026
It was an ambitious, government-wide effort focused on helping adolescent girls around the world obtain better access to education.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
“Reproductive goals counseling should be developmentally appropriate and designed to help adolescents reflect on their future aspirations related to relationships, childbearing, and family formation.”
From Slate ● Jul. 28, 2026
He also worries restrictive diets could carry psychological risks for adolescents, whose relationship with food is still developing.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
Researchers tracked 463,396 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17 through age 26.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 28, 2026
"We found insufficient evidence to conclude that exposure to the Act had any early substantial effects on social media use among adolescents aged under 16," the researchers wrote.
From Barron's ● Jun. 24, 2026
We were three adolescents hanging out at a car wash without a car; any cop worth his doughnuts would figure we were up to no good.
From "The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan
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.
