grown-up
Americanadjective
-
having reached the age of maturity.
-
characteristic of or suitable for adults.
grown-up behavior; grown-up fiction.
adjective
-
having reached maturity; adult
-
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.
“I don’t feel like a grown-up yet, and now I pay a mortgage, and fix pipes and clean gutters.”
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
Compared to the 30-year-old I interviewed five years ago, Piker looked considerably more grown-up.
From Slate ● Aug. 7, 2026
She's one of a growing number planning to take regular career breaks, or "grown-up gap years", which many are terming "mini retirement".
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026
It helped me move to the San Francisco Bay Area for my first grown-up job.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026
Why should he be when grown-up him, who’d broken the laws of physics and the future to glimpse his beloved cousin one more time, was crying too?
From "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer" by Lamar Giles
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.
