adolescence.

The stage between childhood and adulthood, marked by physical, emotional, and social development.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• early adolescence
• late adolescence
• during adolescence
• the transition through adolescence
• a difficult adolescence

On the page

During adolescence, she began to question the rules she had once accepted without hesitation.

The novel follows two friends through adolescence as their ambitions gradually pull them apart.

The study examined how friendships changed from early to late adolescence.

Usage notes

Noun: adolescence, normally uncountable as a life stage; no routine plural is needed. Common patterns: during adolescence, in early adolescence, throughout adolescence. A modified phrase can refer to one person’s experience: a difficult adolescence, an unusually sheltered adolescence. Adolescent is the related adjective or a countable noun for a person; it is not an inflection of adolescence. No verb forms apply. Register: neutral. Commonness: common in general English and in psychology, education, and discussions of growing up (dictionary-informed qualitative editorial estimate; not a measured frequency).