adult

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

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

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈdʌlt/, /ˈæd.əlt/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): [ˈadʌɫt], [əˈdʌɫt]
  • (nonstandard) IPA^(key): [ˈadʊɫt], [ˈad(ə)ɫt], [aˈdʌɫt], [əˈdʊɫt]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (Canada); /ˈæd.əlt/:

  (file)

• Audio (Canada); /əˈdʌlt/:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌlt

adult (plural adults)

1. A fully grown human or other animal.
   • 1840, Georges Cuvier, Edward Blyth, Robert Mudie, George Johnston, J.O. Westwood, “The fourth order of reptiles—The batrachians”, in Cuvier's Animal Kingdom‎^[1], page 286:

     The young not only differs from the adult by the presence of its gills, but its feet are only developed by degrees, and in several genera there are also a deciduous beak and tail, and intestines of a different form

2. A person who has reached the legal age of majority.

• (fully grown human or other animal): grown up; see also Thesaurus:adult

adult (comparative more adult, superlative most adult)

1. Fully grown.

   an adult human, animal, or plant

   • 1837, Michael Donovan, Domestic Economy: Human Food, Animal and Vegetable‎^[2], page 86:

     The paws of the adult brown bear, and also their hams, especially when smoked, are considered a great delicacy.

2. Intended for or restricted to adults rather than children due to size, maturity, knowledge level, judgement, etc.

   adult clothes; adult cereal; an adult documentary

   • 1973, Marshall Kaplan, Gans, and Kahn, Children and the urban environment (page 21)

     In May 1967 the WGBH Education Division submitted an initial proposal to HUD for a series of four adult television documentaries on conservation in an urban environment.

   1. Containing situations or discussions intended primarily for adults, such as serious crime, illicit drug use, extramarital affairs, etc.

      adult situations; adult discussions

   2. (of a beverage) Containing alcohol, intended for consumption only by adults.

      an adult drink; an adult root beer float

   3. (of a cookie, gummy, etc.) Containing marijuana, intended for consumption only by adults.

      an adult cookie; adult gummy worms

   4. Containing material of an explicit sexual nature; pornographic.

      an adult movie

      This program contains adult content. Parental discretion is advised.

   5. Containing excessive vulgar or profane speech, text or images, intended only for adults.

      adult language; an adult cartoon

   6. Intended for, or restricted to, those who are not young children.

      an adult menu; an adult fare

      Children go free, but for those 12 and up, you must purchase an adult ticket.

• (fully grown): big, fully grown, grown up; see also Thesaurus:full-grown
• (intended for adults): grown up; see also Thesaurus:adultlike or Thesaurus:for adults
• (containing explicit sexual material): pornographic, X-rated, XXX, XXXX; see also Thesaurus:pornographic
• (vulgar): blue, indecent, obscene, salacious; see also Thesaurus:obscene

• adolescent
• adulthood

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

1. (intransitive, slang) To behave like an adult.

   Adulting is hard!

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

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

   • 2013, Ewa Rewers, The Contradictions of Urban Art, →ISBN, page 84:

     The process of adulting children […] overlaps with the process of the uncontrolled infiltration of the media […] into children’s imagination.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:adult.

• “adult”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “adult”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

• talud

Borrowed from Latin adultus.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [əˈðul]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [əˈðult]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [aˈðult]

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

1. adult (fully grown)

• adultesa

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

1. adult (fully grown person)

• “adult”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

• Audio:

  (file)

adult (strong nominative masculine singular adulter, not comparable)

1. (medicine) adult

• erwachsen
• Erwachsener, Erwachsene

Borrowed from French adulte, from Latin adultus (“grown up”).

• IPA^(key): /aˈdult/

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

1. adult

adult m (plural adulți, feminine equivalent adultă)

1. adult