young
adjective
being in the first or early stage of life or growth; youthful; not old.
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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
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in an early stage of progress or development; not far advanced
the day was young
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geography
-
(of mountains) formed in the Alpine orogeny and still usually rugged in outline
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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:
At one point, the Sacramento River got so warm that most of the eggs and young fish died.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
"The club has a responsibility to raise young players, give our own talents possibilities to be in the squad and compete every week," says Manchester City boss Andree Jeglertz.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
The cost of college has been fueling these concerns for years and the recent challenges that young college graduates are facing finding entry-level jobs in the AI era have only exacerbated them.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 22, 2026
Many young Taiwanese haven’t lived through decades of tensions with the mainland, and some embrace Chinese popular culture.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
The young man in charge was perhaps a qualified eye doctor, but his entire equipment consisted of a box of framed glasses, from gold-rimmed bifocals to a plastic-framed child’s pair.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Dodgers two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell joined them one day in Miami, catching De Paula’s throws in early work.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
Charity Young Lives vs Cancer says families of children with cancer face average extra costs of around £700 a month, and an average loss of income of about £6,000 per household.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
Cardiff is one of these and Lee Young, who lives in the city, has been trying to get rid of his broken fridge-freezer for two months.
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
Young Marian began singing in her church’s junior choir at the age of 6.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Apa calls out, Young Ju, do not worry your Uhmma.
From "A Step from Heaven" by An Na
Leslie called Kobe her younger brother during the ceremony and is happy to be close to him again.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026
During the Obama years, the state was becoming younger, more concentrated around metropolitan areas, more diverse, and more white-collar.
From Slate ● Sep. 21, 2026
The younger man, who was 76, has reportedly been arrested.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
One strategy among younger buyers, the report said, “may have been to focus their house search in lower-income zip codes.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
Leah’s daughter, Lizzie, must have lived nearby with her husband, as she saw these younger relatives off and on.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
The youngest couldn’t wait to follow the big brothers, especially in football, to the school where they were once ball boys.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
Last season, the 16-year-old set two records, as the youngest player to score in Premier League history and for the Gunners.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
Avelar’s youngest daughter has an eating disorder and is trying to gain weight.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
Astronomers have confirmed the youngest known planet yet, a world less than 1 million years old that is still surrounded by the gas and dust from which it formed.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026
About five years old at the time, Isaac was one of the youngest in a group of enslaved people who were in Richmond serving Thomas Jefferson, the man Isaac called “Old Master.”
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
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.
