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young

[ yuhng ]
/ yʌŋ /
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adjective, young·er [yuhng-ger], /ˈyʌŋ gər/, young·est [yuhng-gist]. /ˈyʌŋ gɪst/.
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.
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Idioms about young

    with young, (of an animal) pregnant.

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

synonym study for young

1. 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 WORDS FROM young

quasi-young, adjective

Other definitions for young (2 of 2)

Young
[ yuhng ]
/ yʌŋ /

noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use young in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for young (1 of 2)

young
/ (jʌŋ) /

adjective younger (ˈjʌŋɡə) or youngest (ˈjʌŋɡɪst)
noun
(functioning as plural) offspring, esp young animalsa rabbit with her young
with young (of animals) pregnant

Derived forms of young

youngish, adjective

Word Origin for young

Old English geong; related to Old Saxon, Old High German iung, Old Norse ungr, Latin iuvenis, Sanskrit yuvan

British Dictionary definitions for young (2 of 2)

Young
/ (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
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

Scientific definitions for young

Young
[ yŭng ]
Thomas 1773-1829

British physicist and physician who is best known for his contributions to the wave theory of light and his discovery of how the lens of the human eye changes shape to focus on objects of different distances. He also studied surface tension and elasticity, and Young's modulus (a measure of the rigidity of materials) is named for him. He is also credited with the first scientific definition of the word energy.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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