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Synonyms

underage

1 American  
[uhn-der-eyj] / ˌʌn dərˈeɪdʒ /

adjective

  1. lacking the required age, especially that of legal maturity.

underage 2 American  
[uhn-der-ij] / ˈʌn dər ɪdʒ /

noun

  1. shortage; deficiency in amount.

underage British  
/ ˌʌndərˈeɪdʒ /

adjective

  1. below the required or standard age, esp below the legal age for voting or drinking

"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 underage1

First recorded in 1585–95; under- + age

Origin of underage2

First recorded in 1605–15; under- + -age

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.

“It’s been hard for me because for many years I’ve been so embarrassed that I wasn’t underage when I met him. I was in my early 20s,” she said in the recent interview.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 15, 2026

Meta's chief executive Mark Zuckerberg took the stand during the trial, pushing back against accusations that his company had done too little to keep underage users off his platform and had profited from their presence.

From Barron's • Mar. 12, 2026

There have also been concerns that age assurance technologies would wrongly block adults while failing to spot underage users.

From BBC • Mar. 6, 2026

Australia recently became the first country in the world to ban most social media platforms for children under 16, making it mandatory for platforms to verify users' ages and disable accounts by underage users.

From BBC • Feb. 4, 2026

“So if you’re underage and you do magic inside an adult witch or wizard’s house, the Ministry won’t know?”

From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling

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.