Word
adolescent
Phoneticsado·les·cent
US/ˌædəˈɫɛsənt/
UK/ˌædəlˈɛsənt/
Definitions
02relating to adolescence
adj. relating to the time in life when you are growing into an adult.
adj. pertaining to the period of adolescence or characteristic of a person in that stage.
“The school offers special programs to help with adolescent mental health.”
“The study focuses on adolescent brain development and how it influences risk-taking behavior during the high school years.”
03immature
adj. acting in a way that is silly or not mature, like a teenager.
adj. displaying a lack of maturity or sophistication; often used pejoratively to describe adult behavior.
“The two grown men were having an adolescent argument about a video game.”
“The critic dismissed the film's humor as adolescent, noting that it relied heavily on cheap gags rather than clever writing.”
Formal
Antonyms
Real-World Examples
“It would be impossible for me to think about my adolescent relationship to reading, and my relationship as an adult to language, without Lorca.” “Christie Spessard’s play has verve, capturing the extremes of adolescent life and competitive sport.” “The United Nations Population Fund ( UNFPA ) warned that in these types of emergencies, girls, women and adolescents may face increased risks of gender-based violence and difficulties accessing health services.” “Psychologist Candice Odgers has studied adolescent mental health for 25 years.” Etymology
First attested ?1440, from Middle English adolescent, from Middle French adolescent or directly from Latin adolescentem, accusative form of adolescens, present participle of adolēscere (“to become adult, grow up”), from ad- (“to”) + alēscere (“to grow or become nourished”). The adjective first appeared in 1785.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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englishreference.com/q/adolescent