Adultoid
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A premature adult form of an insect.
"An adultoid is a mature alate that remains in the colony, sheds its wings and becomes a functional reproductive."
- 2 An adolescent who engages in activities that symbolize adult status.
"Greenberger and Steinberg coined the term “adultoid” to describe adolescents who engage in activities, often “risky” activities, that symbolize adult status (e.g., smoking, drinking, staying out late, having sex)."
Example
More examples"An adultoid is a mature alate that remains in the colony, sheds its wings and becomes a functional reproductive."
Etymology
From adult + -oid.
More for "adultoid"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.