pubescent
Americanadjective
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arriving or arrived at puberty.
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Botany, Zoology. covered with down or fine short hair.
adjective
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arriving or having arrived at puberty
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(of certain plants and animals or their parts) covered with a layer of fine short hairs or down
Other Word Forms
- pubescence noun
- pubescency noun
- subpubescent adjective
Etymology
Origin of pubescent
1640–50; < Latin pūbēscent- (stem of pūbēscēns ), present participle of pūbēscere to attain puberty, reach puberty, become hairy or downy. See pubes 1, -escent
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.
But she hasn’t conceived the teen as anything more than a blunt symbol of pubescent awkwardness.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026
Yes, there’s a long tradition of teasing boys for trying to grow beards beyond their pubescent abilities.
From Slate • Jan. 31, 2024
All these form an enormous playground where monumental things happen at inopportune times, each song a zoetrope world built for consoling and commiserating with the pains of being pubescent.
From Washington Post • Jan. 17, 2023
Why not label the pubescent girls in our commune crazy when we disagreed with the asinine rules that governed our lives?
From Salon • Nov. 21, 2021
His pubescent voice was cracking from the stress.
From "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" by Wes Moore
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.
