adolescent

noun ad·o·les·cent \ -sᵊnt \

Definition of adolescent

:a young person who is developing into an adult :one who is in the state of adolescence

See adolescent defined for English-language learners

Examples of adolescent in a Sentence

Their children are now adolescents.

Recent Examples of adolescent from the Web

August 25, 2017-- More comfortable online than out partying, post-Millennials are safer, physically, than adolescents have ever been.

— spencer kornhaber, The Atlantic, "New Episode of Radio Atlantic: Are Smartphones Harming Our Kids?," 25 Aug. 2017
Studies have shown that when an adolescent or young adult suffers a knee injury, for example, X-ray evidence of arthritis is often apparent within a decade.

— jane e. brody, miamiherald, "If you’ve injured your joint, you run the risk of arthritis if you don’t rehab properly," 21 Aug. 2017
Amazon.com, America’s fifth-largest company by market value, is still growing like an adolescent and planting flags in new markets.

— Ángel gonzález, The Seattle Times, "How big is too big? Amazon sparks antitrust concerns," 6 Aug. 2017
Avon said the adolescents also face charges of theft and could face a prison sentence of 15 years.

— Bloomberg.com, "Two Boys in Custody Suspected of Arson Over French Wildfires," 28 July 2017
Dee and co-worker Frieda (Lisa Joyce) are tasked with helping out at an underfunded high school and find that adolescents aren’t as receptive to their efforts as middle schoolers.

— william robert ferrer, star-telegram, "‘Insecure’ still has the security of being funny in second season," 20 July 2017
Sometimes dismissed as the Nerd Prom or the Geek Super Bowl, the 48th annual Con — the official name is Comic-Con International: San Diego — is more than a sleep-away summer camp for overgrown adolescents.

— peter rowe, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Comic-Con Preview Night's many hints of the four-day madness to come," 19 July 2017
Productions are specifically adapted for pre-adolescent and adolescent voices.

— randall p. lieberman, Jewish Journal, "JCC offers high-flying summer camps," 6 July 2017
So Spider-Man: Homecoming is our third reboot, and now it’s Tom Holland’s turn (after his brief appearance in Captain America: Civil War) to re-establish Parker as adolescent.

— gary thompson, Philly.com, "'Spider-Man: Homecoming:' a polished reboot," 5 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'adolescent.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of adolescent

French, from Latin adolescent-, adolescens, present participle of adolescere to grow up — more at adult

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

See Words from the same year

adolescent

adjective

Definition of adolescent

1 :of, relating to, or being in adolescence

adolescent growth

adolescent boys and girls

2 :emotionally or intellectually immature

did not appreciate her husband's adolescent high jinks

—

adolescently

adverb

Examples of adolescent in a Sentence

an adolescent sheepdog, who hasn't quite gotten the hang of keeping the sheep huddled together
would hope that the college students had outgrown such adolescent behavior

Recent Examples of adolescent from the Web

Like so many things that once set adolescent geeks apart, reading maps for places that aren’t there has gone mainstream.

— adrian daub, Longreads, "Here at the End of All Things," 24 Aug. 2017
In my adolescent mind, filled to the brim with the Tolkienesque, the statues in their tellings were analogues to his Argonath, the grand memorials to a time before, when magic was real and something about man was nobler.

— vann r. newkirk ii, The Atlantic, "Growing Up in the Shadow of the Confederacy," 22 Aug. 2017
Pretty straightforward, as is her brow routine: a quick brush up and fill-in sitch, with a quick story detour into adolescent eyebrow plucking trauma (relatable).

— rachel nussbaum, Glamour, "Kendall Jenner's Bronzer Makeup Trick Is Low-Key Genius, and Totally Free," 22 Aug. 2017
Alvarez, an adolescent development specialist at the Touchstone School, is accused in connection with the assault on a 15-year-old girl there.

— sandra gomez-aceves, courant.com, "Treatment Facility Worker Accused Of Sexually Assault On 15-Year-Old," 15 Aug. 2017
Throughout his adolescent years, his parents—James Brolin, famous in the seventies for his role on the hit show Marcus Welby, M. D., and Jane Cameron Agee, an actress and animal activist—had a stormy relationship.

— maximillian potter, Esquire, "The Llewelyn Moss Moment Josh Brolin Wants to Live By," 9 Aug. 2017
But the real question is: How much triteness can Hollywood unload on the public even when everybody knows that Hollywood condescends to most moviegoers in envisioning them as easily excitable adolescent boys?

— armond white, National Review, "From the Land of the Moon," 28 July 2017
Later, said many people still have not seen the research on adolescent sleep and school start times.

— allison ross, The Courier-Journal, "Are JCPS, other districts starting too early for teens? Research may be a wake-up call," 19 July 2017
Ben Sasse preemptively described his book on our adolescent culture as not an old man yelling at the kids on his lawn.

— kathryn jean lopez, National Review, "Enough with ‘That Same Old Love’," 17 July 2017