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Adolescent

 - 6 dictionary results

ad⋅o⋅les⋅cent

  [ad-l-es-uhnt]
Use Adolescent in a Sentence
–adjective
1. growing to manhood or womanhood; youthful.
2. having the characteristics of adolescence or of an adolescent.
–noun
3. an adolescent person.
Origin:
1475–85; < L adolēscent- (s. of adolēscēns growing up, prp. of adolēscere), equiv. to adol(ē)- (see adult ) + -ēsc- -esce + -ent- -ent

Related forms:
ad⋅o⋅les⋅cent⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
1. immature, young. 3. youth, teenager, minor.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To Adolescent
ad·o·les·cent   (ād'l-ěs'ənt)   
adj.  

  1. Of, relating to, or undergoing adolescence. See Synonyms at young.

  2. Characteristic of adolescence; immature: an adolescent sense of humor.

n.  A young person who has undergone puberty but who has not reached full maturity; a teenager.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin adolēscēns, adolēscent-, present participle of adolēscere, to grow up : ad-, ad- + alēscere, to grow, inchoative of alere, to nourish; see al-2 in Indo-European roots.]
Word History: The adolescent grows up to become the adult. The words adolescent and adult ultimately come from forms of the same Latin word, adolēscere, meaning "to grow up." The present participle of adolēscere, adolēscēns, from which adolescent derives, means "growing up," while the past participle adultus, the source of adult, means "grown up." Appropriately enough, adolescent, first recorded in English in a work written perhaps in 1440, seems to have come into the language before adult, first recorded in a work published in 1531.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

adolescent  (n.)
1482, from M.Fr. adolescent, from L. adolescentem (nom. adolescens), pp. of adolescere "grow up," from ad- "to" + alescere "be nourished," hence, "increase, grow up," inchoative of alere "to nourish" (see old). The adj. is first attested in 1785.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: 1ad·o·les·cent
Pronunciation: -&nt
Function: noun
: one that is in the state of adolescence

Main Entry: 2adolescent
Function: adjective
: of, relating to, or being in adolescence —ad·o·les·cent·ly adverb
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

adolescent ad·o·les·cent (ād'l-ěs'ənt)
adj.
Of, relating to, or undergoing adolescence. n.
A young person who has undergone puberty but who has not reached full maturity; a teenager.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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