# adolescent

Pronunciation: US say "ad-uh-LES-uhnt" /ˌædəˈlɛsənt/; UK

## Noun

1. A person in the stage of adolescence; someone who has reached puberty but has not yet become an adult.
   - Simple: A young person who is no longer a child but is not yet an adult.
   - _As an adolescent, she spent most of her weekends at the skating rink with friends._
   - _The clinic specializes in treating adolescents who struggle with anxiety._

## Adjective

2. Relating to or at the age of adolescence; at the stage between childhood and adulthood.
   - Simple: Belonging to the time of life between being a child and being an adult.
   - _Researchers have documented striking changes in the adolescent brain._
   - _He looked back on his adolescent rebellion with a mix of pride and embarrassment._

## Origin

First attested around 1440, this word came through Middle English and Middle French from Latin adolescentem, the accusative of adolescens, the present participle of adolēscere ("to become adult, grow up"), formed from ad- ("to") and alēscere ("to grow or become nourished"). The adjective first appeared in 1785.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/adolescent (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).