grown-up
Americanadjective
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having reached the age of maturity.
-
characteristic of or suitable for adults.
grown-up behavior; grown-up fiction.
adjective
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having reached maturity; adult
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suitable for or characteristic of an adult
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of grown-up
First recorded in 1625–35; adj. use of verb phrase grow up
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.
Compared to the 30-year-old I interviewed five years ago, Piker looked considerably more grown-up.
From Slate ● Aug. 7, 2026
The more grown-up look comes as George, now a teenager, gets ready to start secondary school in September.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
It’s telling that Neill’s first major film role outside of a few sleepy Australian movies was as a grown-up version of “The Omen” antichrist Damien Thorne in 1981’s “The Final Conflict.”
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2026
It helped me move to the San Francisco Bay Area for my first grown-up job.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026
“Your confession there. Taking blame on yourself. Admitting you were wrong. That’s grown-up stuff.”
From "Fourth Grade Rats" by Jerry Spinelli
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.
