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Recent Examples of preadolescence
Like his early childhood in Omaha, Nebraska; his troubled preadolescence in Lansing, Michigan; and his immersion in street-corner politics in 1950s Harlem, Malcolm’s coming-of-age in Boston shaped his radicalism as profoundly as the Nation of Islam and his 1964 pilgrimage to Mecca did.
—
Kerri Greenidge, The Atlantic, 15 Oct. 2020
Instead, the rats concerned acted normally until given their preadolescence doses of THC.
—The Economist, 19 Oct. 2019
Yet there’s no better example of the genius of Big Mouth—a comedy that nails the sophomoric physical humor of preadolescence but whose hilarious portrait of puberty is really a mirror held up to adult sexuality—more than what follows.
—Judy Berman, Time, 4 Oct. 2019
Kerri Greenidge, The Atlantic, 15 Oct. 2020
Instead, the rats concerned acted normally until given their preadolescence doses of THC.
—The Economist, 19 Oct. 2019
Yet there’s no better example of the genius of Big Mouth—a comedy that nails the sophomoric physical humor of preadolescence but whose hilarious portrait of puberty is really a mirror held up to adult sexuality—more than what follows.
—Judy Berman, Time, 4 Oct. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for preadolescence
Noun
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Reiner has long spoken about struggling with substance abuse since adolescence and even experienced bouts of homelessness as a result.—
Jami Ganz,
New York Daily News,
9 Jan. 2026
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The uncertainty, grief and compassion at the crux of many of his frank narratives seemingly reflect the trauma of his adolescence — and, by extension, the stresses of navigating today’s sociopolitical landscape as a gay man.—
Bob Gendron,
Chicago Tribune,
9 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Hurzeler took charge of Brighton in June 2024, a few weeks before Gross joined boyhood club Borussia Dortmund.—
Andy Naylor,
New York Times,
2 Jan. 2026
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Explore More Drive 30 minutes east to Walloon Lake to see the area where Ernest Hemingway spent his boyhood summers.—
Stacy Conde,
Midwest Living,
30 Dec. 2025
Noun
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This year’s nostalgia for Jane Austen interiors (which has also dovetailed with the return of the canopy bed and is not unrelated to the resurgence of perpetual girlhood) has put candlelit lighting back on the map, and retailers are meeting the moment with modern iterations of the antique.—
Julia Harrison,
Architectural Digest,
17 Dec. 2025
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An explicit act of transcending her girlhood, and welcoming new parts of herself.—
Anna Cafolla,
Vogue,
14 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Preadolescence.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/preadolescence. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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