ADOLESCENCE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does adolescence mean? 

• ADOLESCENCE (noun)
  The noun ADOLESCENCE has 2 senses:

1. the time period between the beginning of puberty and adulthood

2. in the state that someone is in between puberty and adulthood

  Familiarity information: ADOLESCENCE used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ADOLESCENCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The time period between the beginning of puberty and adulthood

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Hypernyms ("adolescence" is a kind of...):

time of life (a period of time during which a person is normally in a particular life state)

Meronyms (parts of "adolescence"):

genital phase; genital stage ((psychoanalysis) the fifth sexual and social stage in a person's development occurring during adolescence; interest focuses on sexual activity)

puberty; pubescence (the time of life when sex glands become functional)

Holonyms ("adolescence" is a part of...):

youth (the time of life between childhood and maturity)

Derivation:

adolesce (become adolescent; pass through adolescence)

adolescent (in the state of development between puberty and maturity)

adolescent (being of the age 13 through 19)

Sense 2

Meaning:

In the state that someone is in between puberty and adulthood

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("adolescence" is a kind of...):

immatureness; immaturity (not having reached maturity)

Derivation:

adolesce (become adolescent; pass through adolescence)

adolescent (relating to or peculiar to or suggestive of an adolescent)

 Context examples 

A transitional time in an individual's life between childhood and adolescence.

(Early Adolescence, NCI Thesaurus)

An autosomal dominant inherited disorder that appears in childhood or adolescence.

(Familial Partial Lipodystrophy, NCI Thesaurus)

It usually starts in childhood or adolescence.

(Gaucher's Disease, NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)

A disorder diagnosed in childhood or adolescence age group characterized by aggressive behavior, deceitfulness, destruction of property or violation of rules that is persistent and repetitive, and within a one year period.

(Conduct Disorder, NCI Thesaurus)

A time period that begins at the beginning of the human embryonic stage and continues until the end of adolescence.

(Childhood, NICHD)

It is found mostly in males and typically develops during childhood or adolescence, becoming darker and more hairy after puberty.

(Becker Nevus, NCI Thesaurus)

The time period between the beginning of infancy and the end of adolescence.

(Childhood, NCI Thesaurus)

Growth hormone plays a major role in regulating growth during childhood and adolescence and also regulates metabolism.

(Growth Hormone Signaling Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

Bilateral hereditary disorders of the cornea, usually autosomal dominant, which may be present at birth but more frequently develop during adolescence and progress slowly throughout life.

(Hereditary Corneal Dystrophy, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The nursing care of children from birth to adolescence.

(Pediatric Nursing, NCI Thesaurus)