boys

noun

plural of boy
1
as in kids
a male person who has not yet reached adulthood a giggling little boy ran by

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
as in boyfriends
a male romantic companion their teenaged daughter has a new boy, and she's just crazy about him

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of boys Jenkins said sextortion is another significant concern that can impact children with law enforcement seeing particularly serious impacts among teen boys. — Arkansas Online, 7 Sep. 2026 George is following in the footsteps of father Prince William and uncle Prince Harry, who also attended the boarding school for boys. — Jennifer Hassan, USA Today, 6 Sep. 2026 According to the prestigious all-boys school’s academic calendar, pupils return on September 9, the same day as the funeral at Oslo Cathedral in Norway. — Rachel Burchfield, InStyle, 6 Sep. 2026 Track and field was the second most common high school boys’ sport that year, with more than 580,000 high school track and field athletes vying for spots on just over 1,200 college teams. — Alex Leeds Matthews, CNN Money, 6 Sep. 2026 Wendell was the eldest of four children, two boys and two girls. — Emily St. Martin, Los Angeles Times, 4 Sep. 2026 In 2011, the school became Bethesda Academy, a college preparatory school for boys in grades 6-12. — Todd Holcomb, AJC.com, 4 Sep. 2026 Both women recognized that fully realizing the aspirations and talents of women and girls also requires valuing the virtues and qualities that men and boys contribute, in the private and public spheres. — The Christian Science Monitor, Christian Science Monitor, 4 Sep. 2026 The boisterous, perhaps even hard-to-corral high school teenage boys would go silent. — Sam McDowell, Kansas City Star, 30 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for boys
  1. kids
  2. boyfriends
  3. teenagers
  4. beaux
  5. lads
  6. youths
Noun
  • The passage about the group of hippies going out to the pueblo and giving the Native kids LSD and hooking up on the tribe’s sacred ground until they get run off is priceless.
    — Maggie McGowan, The New York Review of Books, 5 Sep. 2026
  • Each year, Kenny Wilson and her husband pile their two kids into the car and drive hours from her Texas home to a cruise port in Galveston.
    — Alex Harring, CNBC, 5 Sep. 2026
Definition of kids
Noun
  • The tired, the sick, the hungry, the famous and tons of ex-boyfriends, all regretting their wrongs.
    — Courtney Love, Rolling Stone, 19 Aug. 2026
  • As well as the two ur-bad boyfriends from HBO’s Girls Christopher Abbott and Adam Driver who will portray, respectively, Professor Charles Xavier and Nathaniel Milbury/Mister Sinister.
    — Chris Lee, Vulture, 16 Aug. 2026
Definition of boyfriends
Noun
  • But that sympathy can’t quite make up for the galling fact of Nelson’s sons, now teenagers stuck in limbo as a father figure stubbornly insists on courting further ruin.
    — Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 3 Sep. 2026
  • The teen is being charged as an adult under Georgia's SB440 law, which gives adult superior courts jurisdiction over teenagers aged 13 to 17 accused of specific violent felonies.
    — Tracy Wright, FOXNews.com, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of teenagers
Noun
  • So are their girlfriends and wives, who support their beaus in stadiums and at home.
    — Kate Hogan, PEOPLE, 1 Apr. 2026
  • Despite some very not-so-subtle hints from yours truly, my past beaus have never gifted me a handbag on Valentine’s Day, either.
    — Michelle Baricevic, InStyle, 26 Jan. 2026
Definition of beaux
Noun
  • Kyle Walker and even some of the foreign lads were taking the p***.
    — Jordan Campbell, New York Times, 23 Aug. 2026
  • About how many pounds of fish do each of these strapping, 1,100-lb lads eat per day?
    — AJ Willingham, AJC.com, 17 Aug. 2026
Definition of lads
Noun
  • On that day, the Supreme Court ruled that the state of Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ youths violated the 1st Amendment’s free-speech clause.
    — Karen Garcia, Los Angeles Times, 3 Sep. 2026
  • Both youths were taken to Elmhurst Hospital in stable condition.
    — Colin Mixson, New York Daily News, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of youths

Browse Nearby Words

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Cite this Entry

“Boys.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/boys. Accessed 9 Sep. 2026.

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