preteen
Americannoun
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Also called preteenager. Also called preteener. a boy or girl under the age of 13, especially one between the ages of 9 and 12.
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preteens, the years immediately preceding one's thirteenth birthday.
adjective
noun
Etymology
Origin of preteen
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.
Sindarov, however, has been on the fast track to greatness since he was a preteen.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 6, 2026
“What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages? What’s grown-ups going to think?” cries Piggy, the book’s preteen standard-bearer for logic and civilization.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 17, 2026
Soon after leaving that program in 2022, Audrey, who is now 21, was diagnosed with a second chronic illness: EDS, which she’d likely been living with since she was a preteen.
From Slate • Sep. 15, 2025
When Rubio was a preteen, her maternal grandmother even pushed her to audition for “La Voz Kids,” the Spanish offshoot of “The Voice” for singers under the age of 15.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 29, 2025
Well, sure, when he put it like that, I could see that I was never going to become a preteen real estate mogul if I wasted earnings by renting rather than buying.
From "Lawn Boy Returns" by Gary Paulsen
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.
