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juvenile

adjective · noun

Simple meaning

Of or about or characteristic of or appropriate for children or young people.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

joovuhnuhl

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈdʒuvənəl

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Of or relating to or characteristic of or appropriate for children or young people

  2. Characteristic of youth or immaturity; childish.

  3. Young; not fully developed.

noun

  1. A person younger than the age of majority; a minor.

  2. A prepubescent child.

  3. A two-year-old racehorse.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Of or relating to or characteristic of or appropriate for children or young people

Used this way, juvenile is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use juvenile

  • “The juvenile section of the library has many books and activities for young people.”adjective

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

juvenile courtjuvenile delinquencyjuvenile hormonejuvenile delinquentjuvenile diabetesjuvenile halljuvenile offenderjuvenile justice

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • juvenile amaurotic idiocynounCompound term

    A congenital progressive disorder of lipid metabolism having an onset at age 5 and characterized by blindness and dementia and early death.

  • juvenile bodynounCompound term

    The body of a young person.

  • juvenile courtnounCompound term

    A court having jurisdiction over dependent and delinquent children.

  • juvenile delinquencynounCompound term

    An antisocial misdeed in violation of the law by a minor.

  • juvenile delinquentnounCompound term

    A young offender.

  • juvenile diabetesnounCompound term

    Severe diabetes mellitus with an early onset.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Antonyms

adjective

Sense: of or relating to or characteristic of

adult

noun

Sense: person younger than the age of majority

adult

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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.