adult

Etymology

French adulte, Latin -adultus (“grown up”), perfect passive participle of adolescō (“I grow up”). Compare adolescent.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈæd.ʌlt/, /ˈæd.əlt/

  • Audio (CA)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈdʌlt/, /ˈæd.əlt/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌlt

Noun

adult (plural adults)

1. A fully grown human or animal.
2. A person who has reached the legal age of majority, generally 18 years of age.

Adjective

adult (comparative more adult, superlative most adult)

1. Fully grown.

   an adult human, animal, or plant

2. Intended for or restricted to adults rather than children.

   adult clothes

   This program contains adult content. Parental discretion is advised.

3. Containing material of an explicit sexual nature; of, or pertaining to, pornography.

   an adult movie

4. Vulgar or profane.

Verb

adult (third-person singular simple present adults, present participle adulting, simple past and past participle adulted) (transitive)

1. (nonstandard, rare) To (cause to) be or become an adult.
   • 1974, Occasional Papers (Syracuse University), issues 42-46, page 5:

     Womanhood was achieved at twenty-one, when the female was "adulted"; manhood was fully achieved at twenty-five, […]

   • 2013, Kelly Williams Brown, Adulting: How to Become a Grown-up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps
   • 2013, Ewa Rewers, The Contradictions of Urban Art →ISBN, page 84:

     The process of adulting children, […]

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:adult.

Further reading

• adult in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• adult in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Etymology

From Latin adultus.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /əˈdult/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /əˈdul/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /aˈdult/

Adjective

adult (feminine adulta, masculine plural adults, feminine plural adultes)

1. adult (fully grown)

Noun

adult m (plural adults, feminine adulta)

1. adult (fully grown person)

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

adult (not comparable)

1. (medicine) adult

Etymology

From French adulte, Latin adultus. See above.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈdult/

Adjective

adult m, n (feminine singular adultă, masculine plural adulți, feminine and neuter plural adulte)

1. adult

Noun

adult m (plural adulți, feminine equivalent adultă)

1. adult