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 /
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
2
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
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:
The complainant said she did not have a "conversation" with Hayler afterwards, and recalled thinking "I was probably a bit young".
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
“He’s a young kid,” an unnamed witness told KTLA.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026
He said on Telegram that Russia's consumer and health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor had determined, following tests, that "no microorganisms linked to the young woman's professional work were found in her biological samples".
From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026
Kerry is the reason that Noah grew up a kind, considerate young man.
From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026
“Not every mother cares for their young, you know,” Ragginold snapped.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
“Saw him. Young male. It’s that young one,” Zhang allegedly wrote, later adding that she was making a video recording.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026
Sale, a 10-time All-Star, posted a 2.16 earned-run average this season, trailing only projected Cy Young winners Jacob Misiorowski and Cam Schlittler.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026
Jonathan Scourfield, professor of Social Care at Cardiff University, said: "Young men, in particular, are much more likely to get injured and die from physical risk taking. The expectation of physical strength."
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
Moments after vanquishing Conner, the Mighty Mary crew learned that Koch had agreed to a three-way deal with Conner and a third yacht syndicate, Young America, to slide all three teams to the final.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Apa calls out, Young Ju, do not worry your Uhmma.
From "A Step from Heaven" by An Na
For younger adults, a 5% to 20% target allocation to bonds is probably the right amount, she added, given that the majority still should probably be in equities, given their longer-term investment horizons.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026
“A lot of the younger generation doesn’t want to do repetitive work on the factory floor, which is hard.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
Many of the young people attending daytimers gigs were moving between the expectations of family and community and the desires of a younger generation testing out music, fashion, friendship and independence on its own terms.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
That left an important question unanswered: does an older looking brain also matter in younger, generally healthy adults?
From Science Daily ● Oct. 4, 2026
Madi is the one in our friend group who volunteers in her church nursery and has three younger siblings, not me.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
At 28, she was the youngest person ever appointed to the high-profile position of press secretary.
From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026
She was the youngest person in American history to hold the White House press secretary position.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026
In Reneé Rapp–esque wire-framed glasses, he no longer looked like the youngest billionaire in recent history but rather a precariously employed part-time DJ with a menthol-cigarette problem.
From Slate ● Oct. 3, 2026
As the AI boom took hold in the early 2020s, Scale grew into a key vendor for top AI labs, making Wang one of the world’s youngest self-made billionaires.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Though they may have been suspected of fraud, at no time were the two youngest Fox sisters caught outright using chemicals, tools, or collaborators.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
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.
