adolescent
pronunciation
How to pronounce adolescent in British English:
UK [ˌædəˈlesnt]
How to pronounce adolescent in American English:
US [ˌædəˈlesnt]
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- Noun:
- a juvenile between the onset of puberty and maturity
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- Adjective:
- relating to or peculiar to or suggestive of an adolescent
- being of the age 13 through 19
- displaying or suggesting a lack of maturity
- in the state of development between puberty and maturity
Word Origin
- adolescent
- adolescent: [15] The original notion lying behind both adolescent and adult is of ‘nourishment’. The Latin verb alere meant ‘nourish’ (alimentary and alimony come from it, and it is related to old). A derivative of this, denoting the beginning of an action, was alēscere ‘be nourished’, hence ‘grow’. The addition of the prefix ad- produced adolēscere.Its present participial stem, adolēscent- ‘growing’, passed into English as the noun adolescent ‘a youth’ (the adjective appears not to have occurred before the end of the 18th century). Its past participle, adultus ‘grown’, was adopted into English as adult in the 16th century.=> adult, alimentary, alimony, coalesce, coalition, proletarian, prolific
- adolescent (n.)
- mid-15c., "youth, young man," from Middle French adolescent (15c.) or directly from Latin adolescentem (nominative adolescens) "growing, near maturity, youthful," present participle of adolescere "grow up, come to maturity, ripen," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + alescere "be nourished," hence, "increase, grow up," inchoative of alere "to nourish" (see old). Adolesce was a back-formed verb used early 20c. by H.G. Wells, G.B. Shaw, Louis MacNeice, but it seems not to have taken.
- adolescent (adj.)
- 1785, from Latin adolescentem (nominative adolescens) "growing, near maturity, youthful," present participle of adolescere "grow up, come to maturity, ripen" (see adolescent (n.)).
Example
- 1. Mike could hardly be described as your typical adolescent .
- 2. Mr murdoch was unwise to indulge in adolescent hyperbole .
- 3. As an adolescent , she feels herself outgrowing her own small circle .
- 4. The findings were published monday in the archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine .
- 5. The picture was different for adolescent boys , age 12 to 17 .