teenager
Americannoun
-
teenagers
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of teenager
Explanation
If you're younger than 20 but older than 12, congratulations! You're a teenager! Teenagers are also known as teens or adolescents. Generally, teenagers have finished elementary school, are growing fairly quickly, and are in the last stage of development before they become official adults. As a teenager, the things you may do include graduating from high school, getting a driver's license, and working at a paid job. Before teenager was coined in the 1920s, the word was teener.
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:
A singer who began her career as a teenager busking on the streets of Cardiff has been crowned winner of The Voice UK.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026
I recall as a teenager being puzzled to learn that my grandfather identified as an American first and Chinese second.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026
Britain's Harriet Dart won the first WTA Tour singles title of her career as she beat fast-rising Austrian teenager Lilli Tagger in the Guangzhou Open final.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026
Kurtz, who has been sharing her art on the internet since she was a teenager, suspects that her viral art may have been used to train AI models.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2026
“Someone give me a hand!” called a teenager.
From "A Wish in the Dark" by Christina Soontornvat
“Looking around at my fellow teenagers, I thought, ‘I don’t know if we should be allowed to vote,’” she said with a laugh.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2026
Thousands of lawsuits have been filed in recent years in local, state and federal courtrooms across the country with various claims about alleged harms to children and teenagers caused by social media companies.
From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2026
Even then, AI was outperformed by teenagers who would go to college and major in English so they wouldn’t have to think about algebra.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2026
Only Lamine Yamal has more goal involvements among teenagers in Europe's top five leagues this season.
From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026
And then I’d listen as women with babies on their laps, some of them still teenagers themselves, told me stories.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
