Definitions for adult
əˈdʌlt, ˈæd ʌltadult

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:3.6 / 5 votes

1. adult, grownupnoun

   a fully developed person from maturity onward

2. adultadjective

   any mature animal

3. adult, big, full-grown, fully grown, grown, grownupadjective

   (of animals) fully developed

   "an adult animal"; "a grown woman"

4. pornographic, adultadjective

   designed to arouse lust

   "pornographic films and magazines"; "adult movies"

WiktionaryRate this definition:2.7 / 3 votes

1. adultnoun

   A fully grown human or animal.

2. adultnoun

   A person who lives outside the parental home.

3. adultnoun

   A person whose parents are deceased.

4. adultadjective

   Of a human or animal, fully grown.

5. adultadjective

   Intended for adults rather than children.

   adult clothes

6. adultadjective

   Containing material of an explicit sexual nature

7. Etymology: adulte, adultus, past participle of adolescere; see adolescent.

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. ADULTadjective

   Grown up; past the age of infancy and weakness.

   Etymology: adultus, Lat.

   They would appear less able to approve themselves, not only to the confessor, but even to the catechist, in their adult age, than they were in their minority; as having scarce ever thought of the principles of their religion, since they conned them to avoid correction. Decay of Piety.

   The earth, by these applauded schools, ’tis said,
   This single crop of men and women bred;
   Who grown adult, (so chance, it seems, enjoin’d)
   Did, male and female, propagate their kind. Richard Blackmore.

2. Adultnoun

   A person above the age of infancy, or grown to some degree of strength; sometimes full grown: a word used chiefly by medicinal writers.

   The depression of the cranium, without a fracture, can but seldom occur; and then it happens to children, whose bones are more pliable and soft than those of adults. Samuel Sharp, Surgery.

WikipediaRate this definition:3.5 / 2 votes

1. Adult

   Biologically, an adult is a human or other organism that has reached sexual maturity. In human context, the term adult additionally has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a "minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of majority and is therefore regarded as independent, self-sufficient, and responsible. The typical age of attaining legal adulthood is 18, although definition may vary by legal rights and country. Human adulthood encompasses psychological adult development. Definitions of adulthood are often inconsistent and contradictory; a person may be biologically an adult, and have adult behavior but still be treated as a child if they are under the legal age of majority. Conversely, one may legally be an adult but possess none of the maturity and responsibility that may define an adult character. In different cultures there are events that relate passing from being a child to becoming an adult or coming of age. This often encompasses the passing a series of tests to demonstrate that a person is prepared for adulthood, or reaching a specified age, sometimes in conjunction with demonstrating preparation. Most modern societies determine legal adulthood based on reaching a legally specified age without requiring a demonstration of physical maturity or preparation for adulthood.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. adult

   An adult is a biologically mature individual who has reached the age of majority, typically characterized by physical and cognitive development, as well as assumed legal rights and responsibilities. It refers to a person who has reached the stage of full growth and is considered to be fully developed in terms of physical, mental, and emotional capacities. The exact definition of adulthood may vary across cultures and legal systems, as it is often determined by factors such as age, social norms, and legal criteria.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:4.0 / 1 vote

1. Adultadjective

   having arrived at maturity, or to full size and strength; matured; as, an adult person or plant; an adult ape; an adult age

2. Adultnoun

   a person, animal, or plant grown to full size and strength; one who has reached maturity

3. Etymology: [L. adultus, p. p. of adolescere, akin to alere to nourish: cf. F. adulte. See Adolescent, Old.]

FreebaseRate this definition:4.5 / 2 votes

1. Adult

   Biologically, an adult is a human being or other organism that is of reproductive age. In human context, the term adult additionally has meanings associated with social and legal concepts; for example, a legal adult is a legal concept for a person who has attained the age of majority and is therefore regarded as independent, self-sufficient, and responsible. In addition, human adulthood encompasses psychological adult development. Definitions of adulthood are often inconsistent and contradictory; a person may be biologically an adult, and have adult behavior but still be treated as a child if they are under the legal age of majority. Conversely, one may legally be an adult but possess none of the maturity and responsibility that may define adult character. An event relating to the oncoming of adulthood is coming of age, which encompasses passing a series of tests to demonstrate that a person is prepared for adulthood, or reaching a specified age, sometimes in conjunction with demonstrating preparation. Most modern societies determine legal adulthood based on reaching a legally specified age without requiring a demonstration of physical maturity or preparation for adulthood.

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Adult

   ad-ult′, adj. grown: mature.—n. a grown-up person.—n. Adult′ness. [L. adultus—adolescĕre, to grow. See Adolescent.]

U.S. National Library of MedicineRate this definition:2.5 / 6 votes

1. Adult

   A person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are of 19 through 44 years of age.

Editors ContributionRate this definition:2.5 / 2 votes

1. adult

   A person of a known specific age defined in legislation.

   In some countries the defined legal age of an adult is 16, in other countries it is 18.

   
   

   Submitted by MaryC on February 16, 2020  

EntomologyRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Adult

   the stage when an insect is sexually mature and ready to reproduce normally.

Matched Categories

1. • Person

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'adult' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #2240

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'adult' in Written Corpus Frequency: #3659

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'adult' in Nouns Frequency: #601

Anagrams for adult »

1. dulat

How to pronounce adult?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say adult in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of adult in Chaldean Numerology is: 9

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of adult in Pythagorean Numerology is: 4

Examples of adult in a Sentence

1. Tim McAfee:

   While ENDS may have the potential to benefit established adult smokers ... [they] should not be used by youth and adult non-tobacco users because of the harmful effects of nicotine and other risk exposures.

2. John Updike:

   A healthy male adult bore consumes each year one and a half times his own weight in other people's patience.

3. Scott Swartzwelder:

   More and more, we're finding that both in the animal models and in the clinical literature, that it does look like if you give an adolescent a certain amount of alcohol repeatedly over a certain amount of time, and you give a parallel treatment to an adult for a comparable period of time, the adolescent will have suffered more long-term negative effects than the adult.

4. John Moore:

   He who hasn't hacked assemply language as a youth has no heart. He who does as an adult has no brain.

5. United States:

   It is true that a rising number of American teenagers have tried or recently used flavored vapes and this has caused alarm. But by removing all these products from the market, the proposed United States policy forgets that the flavors are an important part of the appeal to adult smokers trying to quit smoking, in Europe, flavored e-cigarettes have contributed to recent declines in adult smoking and well-conducted randomized controlled trials show that these products do help people quit.

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