Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

juvenile court

American  

noun

  1. a law court having jurisdiction over youths, generally of less than 18 years.


juvenile court British  

noun

  1. the former name for youth court

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of juvenile court

An Americanism dating back to 1895–1900

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:

For instance, media coverage and public access to juvenile court documents are often restricted to minimise psychological harm caused by undue publicity.

From BBC Jul. 22, 2026

It was a retired juvenile court judge, Laurence Bellon, who began to speak about the issue in terms of human trafficking.

From Barron's Dec. 17, 2025

She’s all but doomed to be bourgeois and neurotic, as if a juvenile court has sentenced her to live in a New Yorker cartoon.

From Los Angeles Times Jul. 3, 2025

A Santa Cruz Superior Court judge sought to transfer the case out of the juvenile court system, arguing that the law was unconstitutional, but the California State Supreme Court upheld the law in 2021.

From Los Angeles Times Feb. 20, 2025

There is e-mail from juvenile court, from schools, from the police department.

From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training