- a young person who is developing from a child into an adult
- adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18 and the problems they face
- Stop acting like an adolescent!
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- young
- pimply
- spotty
- …
Word Originlate Middle English (as a noun): via French from Latin adolescent- ‘coming to maturity’, from adolescere, from ad- ‘to’ + alescere ‘grow, grow up’, from alere ‘nourish’. The adjective dates from the late 18th cent.Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
Check pronunciation:
adolescent