adolescence
noun
Simple meaning
The time period between the beginning of puberty and adulthood.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
aduhlehsuhnsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ædəˈlɛsəns
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The time period between the beginning of puberty and adulthood
In the state that someone is in between puberty and adulthood
The transitional period of physical and psychological development between childhood and maturity, beginning at the onset of puberty and with an endpoint defined either legally (at the age of majority, such as 18 in many jurisdictions) or psychocognitively (at various ages, depending on individual experience).
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.