youth

noun

ˈyüth How to pronounce youth (audio)
Definition of youthnext
1
as in boy
a male person who has not yet reached adulthood a big, strapping youth who, even at his relatively young age, knew the meaning of hard work

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2
as in kid
a young person who is between infancy and adulthood rounded up the neighborhood youths and organized them into a softball team

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in childhood
the state or time of being a child told the young people to enjoy their youth while they could

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of youth Questions on disordered eating were eliminated from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey back in 2015 in order to make room for queries about behaviors like vaping, which was then on the rise among youth. — Sarah Todd, STAT, 15 Oct. 2026 Officers in riot gear clashed with youths who set up street barricades using burning trash bins. — ABC News, 14 Oct. 2026 Still, few founders share Satterlee's combination of youth and ability to grow his business quickly. — Megan Sauer valentina Duarte, CNBC, 14 Oct. 2026 Gardner coached several youth prospects and served as director of an annual winter meet that drew hundreds of gymnasts to Iowa. — CBS News, 14 Oct. 2026 See All Example Sentences for youth
Recent Examples of Synonyms for youth
  1. boy
  2. kid
  3. childhood
  4. teenager
  5. child
  6. adolescent
Noun
  • Linda Sanchez is the mother of the first-grade boy who hid under the table with his teacher.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 17 Oct. 2026
  • The film ends in 1997 with a young African boy fleeing persecution into the same theater, drawing a parallel between past and present.
    — Elsa Keslassy, Variety, 17 Oct. 2026
Definition of boy
Noun
  • Everyone thinks their kids’ slang is ridiculous and their parents’ politics naive.
    — Eugenie Brinkema, ARTnews.com, 17 Oct. 2026
  • Mitt reminds me of these famous sports dads — Earl Woods, Richard Williams, Marv Marinovich — who put a golf club or tennis racket or football in their kids’ cribs.
    — Brian Davids, HollywoodReporter, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of kid
Noun
  • Another on-ramp to the fragile pathway is a childhood of abuse, neglect, or other recurring traumatic experiences.
    — Maia Szalavitz, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026
  • But the rest of the world is not just where the needs are greatest—from acute childhood malnutrition to violence against women—but where the gains from philanthropy can be greatest.
    — David Miliband, Time, 19 Oct. 2026
Definition of childhood
Noun
  • Kendall teaches children and teenagers to break down anxiety-provoking situations, such as finding friends to sit with in the cafeteria or asking someone for a date, into smaller steps and planning what to do if something goes wrong.
    — Maia Szalavitz, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026
  • Gilligan was 15 when he was diagnosed with anaplastic large cell lymphoma, which is rare for teenagers but with a higher recovery rate.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of teenager
Noun
  • Health experts are also pushing the government to expand the program to vaccinate children over five.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 18 Oct. 2026
  • The driver was still in the truck, as were two children, Moses said.
    — Dennis Romero, NBC news, 18 Oct. 2026
Definition of child
Noun
  • Ariel Gutiérrez’s intimate coming-of-age drama examines how sudden loss can force an adolescent to confront fear, responsibility and the possibility of rebuilding a life after trauma.
    — Anna Marie de la Fuente, Variety, 9 Oct. 2026
  • Getty An island that had spent decades pairing glamour with license was perhaps the wrong place to entrust an adolescent to unusually permissive relatives.
    — Paul Jebara, Condé Nast Traveler, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of adolescent

Browse Nearby Words

young Turks
youth
youthful
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Cite this Entry

“Youth.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/youth. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

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