Adolescent Meaning
/ˌæd.əˈlɛs.ənt/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjOf, relating to, or at the age of adolescence; at the stage between being a child and an adult.
nounA person who is in adolescence; someone who has reached puberty but is not yet an adult.
Sentence Examples
Education about birth control might help cut down on adolescent pregnancies.
It is said that adolescent friendships do not often last.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ nervously asked for advice about her first date.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ boys were busy playing basketball at the local park.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Schools, unless discipline were doubly strong, / Detain their adolescent charge too long."
— 1785, William Cowper, Tirocinium:
"Again, voice change is not easy and vulnerability plays a big part, but if choral teachers and adolescent singers approach it with the right mindframe, the experience can be empowering, enlightening, and restorative for all involved."
— 2019, Bridget Sweet, Thinking Outside the Voice Box, page 71:
"It may be wartime, but Miss Adolescent wants her fun!"
— 1944, Noel Streatfeild, Theatre Shoes:
"Besides, there are a great many of these accusers, and they have been accusing me now for a great many years; and what is more, they approached you at the most impressionable age, when some of you were children or adolescents; and they literally won their case by default, because there was no one to defend me."
— 1954, Plato, translated by Hugh Tredennick, “Socrates on Trial: The Apology”, in The Last Days of Socrates (Penguin Classics), Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, →OCLC, page 20:
"‘A healthy adolescent might be expected to produce five hundred billion blood cells a day.’"
— 2014, Ian McEwan, The Children Act, Penguin Random House (2018), page 66:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ nervously asked for advice about her first date.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ boys were busy playing basketball at the local park.