grown-up

[ grohn-uhp ]

adjective

1. having reached the age of maturity.
2. characteristic of or suitable for adults:

   grown-up behavior; grown-up fiction.

grown-up

adjective

1. having reached maturity; adult
2. suitable for or characteristic of an adult

noun

1. an adult

Other Words From

• grown-upness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of grown-up¹

First recorded in 1625–35; adj. use of verb phrase grow up

Example Sentences

I'd wanted to see it for months and felt very grown-up about the whole thing.

From The Daily Beast

Belzberg had grown up learning about WWII and visiting Holocaust museums since she was a young girl.

From The Daily Beast

For instance, Sesame Street parodied grown-up shows 30 Rock, Mad Men, and Downton Abbey.

From The Daily Beast

The family had grown up dirt-poor, sharecropping the 20,000 acres of cotton that stretched out below Sand Mountain.

From The Daily Beast

The third walks unsteadily, led by a grown-up holding his hand.

From The Daily Beast

It may be fifty or a hundred centuries since men, although they were fully grown up, still went on trying to learn.

From Project Gutenberg

This new nexus of print has grown up in the lifetime of four or five generations, and it is undergoing constant changes.

From Project Gutenberg

Mademoiselle snatched it from the hand, which was very tiny, and pink, with dimples where grown up folk have knuckles.

From Project Gutenberg

They become more and more abundant as we approach this city, and are grown up to its very doors.

From Project Gutenberg

I've heard something concerning that, but of course he oughtn't hold such things against a man when he has grown up.

From Project Gutenberg