young adult

adjective

: of, relating to, or being a category of fiction that is primarily intended for adolescent readers

young adult fiction/literature

We live in an era of blockbuster young adult book series: Harry Potter, Twilight, now the Hunger Games.

—Leah Wilson

Early in her four-year career as the young adult librarian of the Huckaby Public Library, Veronica Garde observed that most of the staff had a sliding scale of courtesy toward library users, teenagers being given the shortest shrift.

—A. J. Anderson

—abbreviation YA

Examples of young adult in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Because many of our earliest money habits are formed during our childhoods and young adult lives, what better way to honor and celebrate family than by turning the column over to Britannica moms? —Bydoug Ashburn, Encyclopedia Britannica, 11 May 2026

An escort is an adult, most often a young adult male, who forms a one-to-one bond with a particular pup once the kids are old enough to leave the den. —Big Think, 8 May 2026

Being a young adult in a new city can come with a lot of questions. —Kansas City Star, 4 May 2026

One young adult attendee asked about the accuracy and the purpose of a graph Walsh cited in one of his Youtube videos that claimed a growing number of mass shooters in America are transgender. —Saige Miller, NPR, 30 Apr. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1942, in the meaning defined above