Adolescent


growing to manhood or womanhood; youthful.
having the characteristics of or of an adolescent.
an adolescent person.
Contemporary Examples

They hold power and injure all who come into their view, not with overt malice, but adolescent ignorance.
‘Mad Men’ Highlights Invisible Black People and Stain of Racism Otis Moss III March 26, 2012

You can almost hear the adolescent tittering in the background.
Media Reactions to Newsweek’s Niall Ferguson-Obama Cover Story Kevin Fallon August 20, 2012

Once again, an autobiographical strain is evident in his work; it was as if he were revisiting his own adolescent sexuality.
Larry Sultan’s California Dreams Philip Gefter December 16, 2009

I don’t think that the original figure of the vampire is related to present-day romantic, adolescent vampires at all.
The Devil and Woodrow Wilson: An Interview With Joyce Carol Oates Jane Ciabattari March 18, 2013

“I was worried our family would get torn apart,” Desirae recalled of her adolescent sense of powerlessness and desperation.
The 5 Browns Speak Out About Their Sex Abuse Ordeal: Exclusive Christine Pelisek November 27, 2011

Historical Examples

A nation passes out of its adolescent preoccupation with plans and with materials.
The American Mind Bliss Perry

This then is the duality of my day and my night being: a duality so bitter to an adolescent.
Fantasia of the Unconscious D. H. Lawrence

Five years of teaching had demonstrated, to his satisfaction, that he could handle any adolescent.
Adolescents Only Irving E. Cox

But very few speakers could meet the needs of that adolescent age.
The Story of Chautauqua Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

He was too refined, too tender-hearted, to indulge in the conventional dissipations of adolescent mankind.
Egoists James Huneker

adjective
of or relating to adolescence
(informal) behaving in an immature way; puerile
noun
an adolescent person
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.
adj.

1785, from Latin adolescentem (nominative adolescens) “growing, near maturity, youthful,” present participle of adolescere “grow up, come to maturity, ripen” (see adolescent (n.)).

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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