noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The transitional period of physical and psychological development between childhood and maturity, beginning at the onset of puberty and with an endpoint defined either legally (at the age of majority, such as 18 in many jurisdictions) or psychocognitively (at various ages, depending on individual experience). countable, uncountable

   "Near-synonyms: teenagehood, teenhood, teenagerhood, teenagedom, teenagerdom, teendom"

2. 2
   in the state that someone is in between puberty and adulthood wordnet
3. 3
   the time period between the beginning of puberty and adulthood wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

childhoodgreennesshog agejuvenilityprimepuberty

Antonyms

All antonyms

adulthood

Example

More examples

"That very tune reminded me of my adolescence."

Etymology

From Middle English adolescence, from Old French adolescence, from Latin adolēscentia, from adolēscēns (“young”); see adolescent.

Related phrases

almost teenageteenage yearstwelve yearsunited states

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.