adolescent
/ˌæd.əˈlɛs.ənt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.58 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
4
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "Schools, unless discipline were doubly strong, / Detain their adolescent charge too long."
- "Again, voice change is not easy and vulnerability plays a big part, but if choral teachers and adolescent singers approach it with the right mindframe, the experience can be empowering, enlightening, and restorative for all involved."
- "It may be wartime, but Miss Adolescent wants her fun!"
- "Besides, there are a great many of these accusers, and they have been accusing me now for a great many years; and what is more, they approached you at the most impressionable age, when some of you were children or adolescents; and they literally won their case by default, because there was no one to defend me."
- "‘A healthy adolescent might be expected to produce five hundred billion blood cells a day.’"
Etymology
First attested ?1440, from Middle English adolescent, from Middle French adolescent or directly from Latin adolescentem, accusative form of adolescens, present participle of adolēscere (“to become adult, grow up”), from ad- (“to”) + alēscere (“to grow or become nourished”). The adjective first appeared in 1785.