adult

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

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

  • Audio (CA)

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• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /əˈdʌlt/, /ˈæd.əlt/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌlt

adult (plural adults)

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

• adultly
• adultness

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, 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.

   adult clothes

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

   an adult movie

   This program contains adult content. Parental discretion is advised.

4. Vulgar or profane.

• (fully grown): big, fully grown, grown up
• (unsuitable for children): blue, dirty, lewd, obscene, pornographic, X-rated, XXX, XXXX

• adolescent
• adulthood

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, 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 examples of usage of this term, see Citations:adult.
2. (informal) To behave like an adult.

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

• talud

From Latin adultus.

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

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

1. adult (fully grown)

• adultesa

adult m (plural adults, feminine adulta)

1. adult (fully grown person)

• “adult” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

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adult (not comparable)

1. (medicine) adult

From French adulte, Latin adultus. See above.

• 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