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Adolescent

10 dictionary results for: adolescent

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

ad·o·les·cent

[ad-l-es-uh

nt] Pronunciation Key

–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 adoléscent- (s. of adoléscéns growing up, prp. of adoléscere), equiv. to adol(é)- (see adult) + -ésc- -esce + -ent- -ent

]

—Related forms

ad·o·les·cent·ly, adverb

—Synonyms 1. immature, young. 3. youth, teenager, minor.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

ad·o·les·cent (ād'l-ěs'ənt) Pronunciation Key
adj.

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

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
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.

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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

adolescent
adjective
1.	relating to or peculiar to or suggestive of an adolescent; "adolescent problems"
2.	being of the age 13 through 19; "teenage mothers"; "the teen years"
3.	displaying or suggesting a lack of maturity; "adolescent insecurity"; "jejune responses to our problems"; "their behavior was juvenile"; "puerile jokes"
4.	in the state of development between puberty and maturity; "adolescent boys and girls"
noun
1.	a juvenile between the onset of puberty and maturity

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American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

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.

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Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry: ¹ad·o·les·cent
Pronunciation: -^&nt
Function: noun
: one that is in the state of adolescence

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Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry: ²adolescent
Function: adjective
: of, relating to, or being in adolescence —ad·o·les·cent·ly adverb

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Adolescent

Ad`o*les"cent\ ([a^]d`[-o]*l[e^]s"sent), a. [L. adolescens, p. pr. of adolescere to grow up to; ad + the inchoative olescere to grow: cf. F. adolescent. See Adult.] Growing; advancing from childhood to maturity.

Schools, unless discipline were doubly strong, Detain their adolescent charge too long. --Cowper.

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Adolescent

Ad`o*les"cent\, n. A youth.

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