adolescence
[ad-l-es-uh ns]
- the transitional period between puberty and adulthood in human development, extending mainly over the teen years and terminating legally when the age of majority is reached; youth.
- the process or state of growing to maturity.
- a period or stage of development, as of a society, preceding maturity.
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Origin of adolescence
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
boyhood, teens, juvenility, minority, spring, youth, greenness, girlhood, youthfulness, pubescenceExamples from the Web for adolescence
Contemporary Examples
And that was the soul, very active in adolescence—like everything else.
The moral duties and doubts of adulthood are swapped out for the histrionic creeds of adolescence.
Across the globe, millions of boys and girls are betrothed so young they spend the majority of their adolescence already married.
In adolescence they are reinforced by magazines, boyfriends, and the world around us.
Four years after its emergence as a political force, the Tea Party is now coping with its adolescence.
Historical Examples
The urge of adolescence carries them away out of our detaining hands.
Women's Wild OatsC. Gasquoine Hartley
(e) The fourth period of education begins at fifteen, the period of adolescence.
History of EducationLevi Seeley
Adolescence, the Gymnasium or Latin school, from twelve to eighteen.
History of EducationLevi Seeley
But as this was at adolescence, the unrest of the youth should not be taken too seriously.
Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Vol. 13Elbert Hubbard
His smooth, rosy face had still the downy bloom of adolescence.
The Squirrel-CageDorothy Canfield
adolescence
- the period in human development that occurs between the beginning of puberty and adulthood
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Word Origin
C15: via Old French from Latin adolēscentia, from adolēscere to grow up, from alēscere to grow, from alēre to feed, nourish
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for adolescence
n.
"age following childhood" (especially the period from the 15th to the 21st year), early 15c., from Middle French adolescence (14c.), from Latin adolescentia "youth," noun of state from adolescentem (see adolescent).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
adolescence
(ăd′l-ĕs′əns)- The period of physical and psychological development from the onset of puberty to complete growth and maturity.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
adolescence
[ăd′l-ĕs′əns]
- The period of physical and psychological development from puberty to the onset of adulthood.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.