young adult

adjective

: of, relating to, or being a category of fiction that is primarily intended for adolescent readers
young adult fiction/literature
We live in an era of blockbuster young adult book series: Harry Potter, Twilight, now the Hunger Games.—Leah Wilson
Early in her four-year career as the young adult librarian of the Huckaby Public Library, Veronica Garde observed that most of the staff had a sliding scale of courtesy toward library users, teenagers being given the shortest shrift.—A. J. Anderson
—abbreviation YA

Examples of young adult in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Slater and Thomas are both likable, too often a rare quality among young adult protagonists, and Mann and Frank mostly give them good choices to make. — Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 2 Sep. 2026 Award categories include poetry, fiction, nonfiction, debut, genre, children’s, drama, young adult and middle grade, the latter being the category Safadi’s book earned its accolade. — Philip Potempa, Chicago Tribune, 30 Aug. 2026 Riggs’ 2011 novel launched his young adult, multi-genre series about a teenager discovers an orphanage for children with supernatural powers on the fictional Welsh island of Cairnholm. — Carly Tagen-Dye, PEOPLE, 28 Aug. 2026 The actor, best known for his work on Amazon Prime’s young adult drama Panic, is set to portray influential rapper Tupac Shakur in Snoop, Universal Pictures’ biopic of entertainment mogul and music icon Snoop Dogg. — Borys Kit, HollywoodReporter, 25 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for young adult

Word History

First Known Use

1942, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of young adult was in 1942

Browse Nearby Words

Young's experiment
young adult
young and old
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Young adult.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/young%20adult. Accessed 4 Sep. 2026.

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