preadolescent

[pree-ad-l-es-uhnt]

adjective

1. of or relating to preadolescence or a preadolescent.

noun

1. a person who is in the preadolescent years.

preadolescent

/ ˌpriːædəˈlɛsənt /

noun

1. a person who has not yet reached adolescence

adjective

1. of or relating to the period before adolescence

Word History and Origins

Origin of preadolescent¹

First recorded in 1905–10; pre- + adolescent

Example Sentences

In their forgiveness journals, one preadolescent from Northern Ireland wrote: “We need to learn this to be friends.”

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The story amounts to an extended pun on the title, making a metaphor out of the stirrings of preadolescent desire.

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In preadolescent children, Fortuna says, depression may reveal itself as touchiness and irritability rather than sadness.

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“On Sugarland,” in previews at New York Theater Workshop, follows a preadolescent Sadie as she comes to terms with her mother’s death in combat.

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I strongly object to Ruth Whippman’s assertion that “there is a bizarre absence of fully realized human beings” in the fictional worlds of male toddlers and preadolescent boys.

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