youth

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youth

(yo͞oth)

n. pl. youths (yo͞oths, yo͞othz)

a. The condition or quality of being young: Travel while you still have your youth.

b. The time of life between childhood and maturity: He was rebellious in his youth.

c. An early period of development or existence: a nation in its youth.

a. A young person, especially a young male in late adolescence.

b. (used with a sing. or pl. verb) Young people considered as a group.

3. Geology The first stage in the erosion cycle.

[Middle English youthe, from Old English geoguth; see yeu- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

youth

(juːθ)

n, pl youths (juːðz)

1. the quality or condition of being young, immature, or inexperienced: his youth told against him in the contest.

2. the period between childhood and maturity, esp adolescence and early adulthood

3. the freshness, vigour, or vitality characteristic of young people: youth shone out from her face.

4. any period of early development: the project was in its youth.

5. a young person, esp a young man or boy

6. (Sociology) young people collectively: youth everywhere is rising in revolt.

[Old English geogoth; related to Old Frisian jogethe, Old High German iugund, Gothic junda, Latin juventus]

ˈyouthless adj

Youth

(juːθ)

(Placename) Isle of Youth an island in the NW Caribbean, south of Cuba: administratively part of Cuba from 1925. Chief town: Nueva Gerona. Pop: 80 600 (2002 est). Area: 3061 sq km (1182 sq miles). Former name: Isle of Pines Spanish name: Isla de la Juventud

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

youth

(yuθ)

n., pl. youths (yuθs, yuðz)
(collectively) youth.

1. the condition of being young.

2. the appearance, freshness, vigor, spirit, etc., characteristic of the young.

3. the time of being young; early life.

4. the period of life from puberty to the attainment of full growth; adolescence.

5. the first or early period of anything.

6. young persons collectively.

7. a young person, esp. a young man.

[before 900; Middle English youthe, Old English geoguth, c. Old Saxon juguth, Old High German jugund; see young, -th¹]

Youth

(yuθ)
n.

Isle of, an island in the Caribbean, south of and belonging to Cuba. 68,700; 1182 sq. mi. (3061 sq. km). Formerly, Isle of Pines. Spanish, Isla de la Juventud.

Youth

See Also: AGE

As young as truth —Dante Gabriel Rossetti
At sixty-eight, he is as pink and fat as a baby, ingenuous as a teenager —T. Coraghessan Boyle
Between eighteen and twenty, life is like an exchange where one buys stocks, not with money, but with actions —André Malraux
Childish, like believing in Beauty and the Beast —Janet Flanner
Each youth is like a child born in the night who sees the sun rise and thinks that yesterday never existed —W. Somerset Maugham
He is like one of those young-old engineers at Boeing, who at seventy wear bow ties and tinker in their workshops —Walker Percy
It is like a long hopeless homesickness … missing those young days —Grace Paley
Like the tongue that seeks the missing tooth I yearned for my extracted youth —Ogden Nash
Looked about sixteen and as defenseless as a babe at a Mafia convention —Jimmy Sangster
Midway between youth and age like a man who has missed his train: too late for the last and too early for the next —George Bernard Shaw
Seemed as perpetually youthful as movie stars —Donald Justice
She was just eighteen, rich and warm as one eagerly waiting for the play to begin —Arthur Schopenhauer
Their [young people’s] impulses are keen but not deep-rooted … like sick people’s attacks of hunger —Aristotle
The young leading the young is like the blind leading the blind —Lord Chesterfield
Youth … flashing like a star out of the twilight —Willa Cather
The simile is from an introductory poem to Cather’s novel, O Pioneer.
Youthful rashness skips like a hare over the meshes of good counsel —William Shakespeare
Youth is like spring, an overpraised season: delightful if it happen to be a favored one, but in practice very rarely favored and more remarkable, as a general rule, for biting east winds than genial breezes —Samuel Butler
Youth … it did not go by me like a flitting dream. Tuesdays and Wednesdays were as gay as Saturday nights —Grace Paley
Youth like summer morn … youth like summer brave —William Shakespeare
Shakespeare used these similes in his poem, The Passionate Pilgrim, to describe the pleasures of youth, alternating them with comparisons about age and the weather.
See Also: AGE
(My) youth passed like a sleep —Dame Edith Sitwell

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	youth - a young person (especially a young man or boy) spring chicken, young person, younker juvenile, juvenile person - a young person, not fully developed blade - a dashing young man; "gay young blades bragged of their amorous adventures" hobbledehoy - an awkward bad-mannered adolescent boy pup, puppy - an inexperienced young person school-age child, schoolchild, pupil - a young person attending school (up through senior high school) slip - a young and slender person; "he's a mere slip of a lad"
	2.	youth - young people collectively; "rock music appeals to the young"; "youth everywhere rises in revolt" young age bracket, age group, cohort - a group of people having approximately the same age
	3.	youth - the time of life between childhood and maturity time of life - a period of time during which a person is normally in a particular life state adolescence - the time period between the beginning of puberty and adulthood bloom of youth, salad days, bloom - the best time of youth
	4.	youth - early maturity; the state of being young or immature or inexperienced matureness, maturity - state of being mature; full development
	5.	youth - an early period of development; "during the youth of the project" early days period, period of time, time period - an amount of time; "a time period of 30 years"; "hastened the period of time of his recovery"; "Picasso's blue period"
	6.	youth - the freshness and vitality characteristic of a young person youthfulness, juvenility youngness - the opposite of oldness

youth

noun

1. immaturity, adolescence, early life, young days, boyhood or girlhood, salad days, juvenescence the comic books of my youth
immaturity age, maturity, old age, adulthood, later life, manhood or womanhood

2. youthfulness, youngness, freshness The team is now a good mixture of experience and youth.

3. boy, lad, youngster, kid (informal), teenager, young man, adolescent, teen (informal), stripling, young shaver (informal) gangs of youths who broke windows and looted shops
boy grown-up, adult, pensioner, senior citizen, OAP

4. young people, the young, the younger generation, teenagers, the rising generation He represents the opinions of the youth of today.
young people old people, the old, the aged, the elderly

Quotations
"Youth's a stuff will not endure" [William Shakespeare]
"Twelfth Night"
"Young men have more virtue than old men; they have more generous sentiments in every respect" [Dr. Johnson]
"Youth, which is forgiven everything, forgives itself nothing: age, which forgives itself anything, is forgiven nothing" [George Bernard Shaw Maxims for Revolutionists]
"Whom the gods love dies young" [Menander Mouostichoi]
"Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,"
"But to be young was very heaven" [William Wordsworth The Prelude]
"Youth is a disease that must be borne with patiently! Time, indeed, will cure it" [R.H. Benson]
"I've never understood why people consider youth a time of freedom and joy. It's probably because they have forgotten their own" [Margaret Atwood Hair Jewelry]
"Hope I die before I get old" [Pete Townshend My Generation]

Proverbs
"Youth must be served"

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

youth

noun

1. The time of life between childhood and maturity:

adolescence, greenness, juvenescence, juvenility, puberty, salad days, spring, youthfulness.

2. A young person, usually between the ages of 13 and 19:

adolescent, teen, teenager.

Informal: teener.

3. Young people collectively:

young.

Translations

Spanish / Español

Select a language:

juventud joven

youth

[juːθ]

A. N

1. (= young age) → juventud f
in my youth → en mi juventud

2. (youths (pl)) [juːðz] (= boy) → joven m

3. (= young people) → jóvenes mpl, juventud f
the youth of today → los jóvenes or la juventud de hoy

B. CPD youth club N → club m juvenil
youth employment scheme N → plan m de empleo juvenil
youth hostel N → albergue m juvenil
youth hostelling N to go youth hostelling → pasar las vacaciones en albergues juveniles
youth worker N (Brit) (= social worker) asistente social que se encarga de adolescentes menores de 18 años; (= community worker) empleado del municipio que trabaja con grupos de jóvenes en la comunidad

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

youth

(juːθ) – plural youths (juːðz) – noun

1. (the state of being in) the early part of life. Enjoy your youth!; He spent his youth in America.juventud

2. a boy of fifteen to twenty years old approximately. He and two other youths were kicking a football about.joven

3. young people in general. Some people say that today's youth has/have no sense of responsibility.juventud, los jóvenes

ˈyouthful adjective

1. young. The boy looked very youthful.joven

2. energetic, active, young-looking etc. Exercise will keep you youthful.joven

3. of youth. youthful pleasures.juvenil

ˈyouthfully adverb

de forma juvenil

ˈyouthfulness noun

juventud

youth hostel a place for young people, especially hikers, on holiday, where cheap and simple accommodation is provided ( noun youth hosteller)

albergue juvenil

youth mentor noun

someone who gives guidance and is like a big sister/brother to a young person who has social problems or is retarded. mentor

youth

→ juventud

youth

n. juventud, mocedad.

youth

n juventud f

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

Generally, youth is like the first cogitations, not so wise as the second.

Certainly it is good to compound employments of both; for that will be good for the present, because the virtues of either age, may correct the defects of both; and good for succession, that young men may be learners, while men in age are actors; and, lastly, good for extern accidents, because authority followeth old men, and favor and popularity, youth. But for the moral part, perhaps youth will have the pre-eminence, as age hath for the politic.

View in context

The youth called in a savage voice after his comrade: "Well, you needn't git mad about it!" But the other continued on his way and made no reply.

THE next morning the youth discovered that his tall comrade had been the fast-flying messen- ger of a mistake.

The youth felt, however, that his problem was in no wise lifted from him.

View in context

The youth thankfully accepted the magician's offer, and said, 'I cannot now offer you any reward for your kindness, but should my undertaking succeed your trouble shall be richly repaid.'

Then the magician brewed a powerful potion out of nine sorts of herbs which he had gathered himself all alone by moonlight, and he gave the youth nine spoonfuls of it daily for three days, which made him able to understand the language of birds.

From that time the youth never felt lonely as he walked along; he always had company, because he understood the language of birds; and in this way he learned many things which mere human knowledge could never have taught him.

View in context

If I could but shudder!' Then a man approached who heard this conversation which the youth was holding with himself, and when they had walked a little farther to where they could see the gallows, the man said to him: 'Look, there is the tree where seven men have married the ropemaker's daughter, and are now learning how to fly.

The youth likewise went his way, and once more began to mutter to himself: 'Ah, if I could but shudder!

View in context

Zarathustra's eye had perceived that a certain youth avoided him.

Thereupon the youth arose disconcerted, and said: "I hear Zarathustra, and just now was I thinking of him!" Zarathustra answered:

View in context

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