younger

Pluralyoungers

1. 1
   adjective

   Comparative of young.

   The younger applicants tended to prefer fully remote roles.

   She married a man considerably younger than herself.

   Note

   A comparative that does not always need a rival. In "my younger days" nothing is set against it: the phrase points back to an earlier stretch of one's own life. When the comparison is spelled out, than introduces the other party (younger than our daughter). The series runs young, younger, youngest, built with endings rather than with more and most.

2. 2
   noun

   A person who is less advanced in age than another.

   The younger of the two claimants stood to inherit the house.

   Being the younger, he often relied on his brother for advice.

   Similarjunior

   Oppositeelder, senior

   Note

   The noun comes into its own in the plural, where youngers stands opposite elders. In L. H. Apaque's A baker's dozen (1882), a boy will not show his inferiority to his youngers. Hans Raj Dua in 1980 sorts speech by "elders, equals or youngers," and Robert S. Fox and colleagues pair it with olders. In the singular it usually takes the and implies a pair: the younger of the two.

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