From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishadolescentad‧o‧les‧cent /ˌædəˈlesənt◂/ ●○○ noun [countable] YOUNGa young person, usually between the ages of 12 and 18, who is developing into an adult► see thesaurus at child, young —adolescent adjective adolescent girls → child
Examples from the Corpus
adolescent• Lately he had been as moody as an adolescent and about as helpful.• At age 20 in 1910, Egon Schiele still had the hypersensitivity of an adolescent, which was good news for art.• Ben, an awkward adolescent, is closer to being a successfully evolved man than the grown ones he encounters.• Even more foolishly, the besotted adolescent attempted to extend the relationship, and chased Byron to Geneva.• The working class adolescent of the 60s had quite a job deciding what to do with his hair.• John changed from a friendly and cheerful young boy into a confused adolescent.• As the individual adolescent seeks to grow more independent of the family, peer groups and friends become important points of reference.• An estimated 62 million Americans smoke, including 4.1 million adolescents aged 12-17.• Oddly, Courtney became a difficult young adolescent.Origin adolescent (1400-1500) French Latin, present participle of adolescere; → ADULT2 