young
adjective
being in the first or early stage of life or growth; youthful; not old.
young
1 American
[yuhng]
/ jʌŋ /
adjective
-
younger,
comparative
-
youngest
superlative
-
being in the first or early stage of life or growth; youthful; not old.
a young woman.
- Synonyms:
- growing
-
having the appearance, freshness, vigor, or other qualities of youth.
-
of or relating to youth.
in one's young days.
-
inexperienced or immature.
-
not far advanced in years in comparison with another or others.
-
junior, as applied to the younger of two persons having the same name.
the young Mr. Smith.
-
being in an early stage generally, as of existence, progress, operation, development, or maturity; new; early.
a young wine; It is a young company, not yet firmly established.
-
representing or advocating recent or progressive tendencies, policies, or the like.
noun
-
those who have youth; young persons collectively.
the educated young of today; a game for young and old.
-
young offspring.
a mother hen protecting her young.
idioms
Young
2
American
[yuhng]
/ jʌŋ /
noun
-
Andrew (Jackson, Jr.), born 1932, U.S. clergyman, Black civil rights leader, politician, and diplomat: mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, 1981–89.
-
Art(hur Henry), 1866–1944, U.S. cartoonist and author.
-
Brigham, 1801–77, U.S. leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
-
Charles, 1864–1922, U.S. army colonel: highest-ranking Black officer in World War I.
-
Denton True Cy, 1867–1955, U.S. baseball player.
-
Edward, 1683–1765, English poet.
-
Ella, 1867–1956, Irish poet and mythologist in the U.S.
-
Lester Willis PresPrez, 1909–59, U.S. jazz tenor saxophonist.
-
Owen D., 1874–1962, U.S. lawyer, industrialist, government administrator, and financier.
-
Stark, 1881–1963, U.S. drama critic, novelist, and playwright.
-
Thomas, 1773–1829, English physician, physicist, mathematician, and Egyptologist.
-
Whitney M., Jr., 1921–71, U.S. social worker and educator: executive director of the National Urban League 1961–71.
young
1
British
/ jʌŋ /
adjective
-
-
having lived, existed, or been made or known for a relatively short time
a young man
a young movement
a young country
-
( as collective noun; preceded by the )
the young
-
-
youthful or having qualities associated with youth; vigorous or lively
she's very young for her age
-
of or relating to youth
in my young days
-
having been established or introduced for a relatively short time
a young member
-
in an early stage of progress or development; not far advanced
the day was young
-
geography
-
(of mountains) formed in the Alpine orogeny and still usually rugged in outline
-
another term for youthful
-
-
(often capital) of or relating to a rejuvenated group or movement or one claiming to represent the younger members of the population, esp one adhering to a political ideology
Young England
Young Socialists
noun
-
(functioning as plural) offspring, esp young animals
a rabbit with her young
-
(of animals) pregnant
Young
2
British
/ jʌŋ /
noun
-
Brigham (ˈbrɪɡəm). 1801–77, US Mormon leader, who led the Mormon migration to Utah and founded Salt Lake City (1847)
-
Edward. 1683–1765, English poet and dramatist, noted for his Night Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality (1742–45)
-
Lester. 1909–59, US saxophonist and clarinetist. He was a leading early exponent of the tenor saxophone in jazz
-
Neil ( Percival ). born 1945, Canadian rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter. His albums include Harvest (1972), Rust Never Sleeps (1979), Ragged Glory (1990), and Prairie Wind (2005)
-
Thomas. 1773–1829, English physicist, physician, and Egyptologist. He helped to establish the wave theory of light by his experiments on optical interference and assisted in the decipherment of the Rosetta Stone
Young
Scientific
/ yŭng /
Synonym Usage
Young, youthful, juvenile all refer to lack of age. Young is the general word for that which is undeveloped, immature, and in process of growth: a young colt, child; young shoots of wheat. Youthful has connotations suggesting the favorable characteristics of youth, such as vigor, enthusiasm, and hopefulness: youthful sports, energy, outlook. Juvenile may suggest less desirable characteristics, such as childishness, petulance, idleness, selfishness, or heedlessness ( juvenile behavior ), or it may refer simply to the years, up to the later teens, before legal responsibility: juvenile delinquency; juvenile court; juvenile books.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of young
First recorded before 900; Middle English yong(e), Old English geong; cognate with Dutch jong, German jung, Old Norse ungr, Gothic jungs; akin to Latin juvenis
Explanation
Use the adjective young to describe a person who hasn't been alive very long or doesn't have much life experience. You might feel much wiser and more sophisticated than your young cousins — even if you secretly enjoy playing games with them. As a noun, young generally means "animal babies," like when a mother duck and her young cross the street, though it can also refer collectively to young people: "The young recover so quickly from being sick." When you describe someone as young, you typically mean that they're immature, youthful, or simply not as old as you might expect: "Kids are getting phones so young these days!"
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 Labour Party spokesperson said all young people "deserve a clear route to a good career" whether through "a properly funded apprenticeship, high-quality technical education or university".
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
What goes down: He accidentally blurts out an inappropriate word that shocks his older co-workers, who don’t understand that the word is often used as a compliment among young people.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
First, behind the statistics are young people being entered time and time again into exams they are unlikely to pass.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
Scott, born MacKenzie Tuttle in San Francisco, was drawn to books and writing from a young age.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
The young woman beside me laughed as she pulled out a chair for me.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
For the last 25 years, he's been the frontman of The Killers, channelling his love of stadium rock and British new wave on songs like Mr Brightside, When You Were Young and Human.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Young people haven’t necessarily stopped wanting nice things.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
"There is the expectation amongst tax authorities that cryptocurrency investment is rife with tax evasion," says Neela Chauhan, partner at UHY Hacker Young - which carried out the FOI.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
Young people are facing a tougher job market now than before the pandemic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
“Then came a day that changed his mind. Young man, no one ever laughed at my saw after that day. Pop thought this old saw was a positive marvel.”
From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney
Bullock also has a younger daughter, Laila, whom she adopted in 2015.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
Tarling was the younger brother of Netcompany Inoes rider Josh Tarling, who was announced on Thursday in the team's line-up for the Vuelta a Espana three-week Grand Tour, which begins on Saturday.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
Older workers could turn out to be more valuable than younger ones, he said, by meshing their experience with the tools of artificial intelligence.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026
Seventy-three percent of the younger cohort called it unacceptable for brands to use AI to simulate people or human voices in their ads, but that figure fell to 53% among the 45-to-59-year-olds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
At halftime I saw a couple of younger boys haul in crates of drinks, and I wondered what was going on.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
After that, she became one of the youngest Grammy nominees ever in the best spoken word album for children category thanks to her voice work on “A Bug’s Life Read-Along.”
From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2026
And the pace is such that the youngest audience members may drift off.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
“You’re going to hear how Meta tried to hook kids under 13, the youngest users,” she said, previewing internal documents that Meta had unsuccessfully fought to keep out of the blockbuster trial’s opening monologue.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
Arday, who became Cambridge's youngest ever black professor in 2023, was found dead Friday aged 41, following multiple plagiarism accusations.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
The youngest reached for the pins in her hair, her hands shaking with panic.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
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.
