youth
[noun]
Synonyms:
- immaturity, adolescence, boyhood, girlhood, salad days
- boy, adolescent, kid (informal), lad, stripling, teenager, young man, youngster

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Antonyms: age
Related Idioms: awkward age, flower (or springtime or May) of life
Related Words: callowness, immaturity, inexperience, unripeness, dewiness

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English Thesaurus: child, kid, little boy/little girl, teenager, adolescent, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

youth S2 W2 /juːθ/ noun (plural youths /juːðz $ juːðz, juːθs/)
[Word Family: noun: young, youngster, youth, youthfulness; adjective: young, youthful; adverb: youthfully]
[Language: Old English; Origin: geoguth]

1. [uncountable] the period of time when someone is young, especially the period when someone is a teenager ⇒ old age
in sb’s youth
Many of these people had used drugs in their youth.

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In everyday English, people usually say when I was young, rather than saying in my youth:
They were friends when they were young.

2. [countable] a teenage boy – used especially in newspapers to show disapproval:
a gang of youths

3. [uncountable] young people in general
the youth of something
The youth of today are the pensioners of tomorrow.

4. [uncountable] the quality or state of being young Antonym : age:
Despite his youth, he had travelled alone.
The cream will restore youth and vitality to your skin.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

youth
noun
I. period of your life when you are young
ADJ. early | unhappy | lost nostalgia for her lost youth
misspent His lack of qualifications was taken as a sign of a misspent youth.
VERB + YOUTH spend She spent much of her youth in Hong Kong.
idle away, waste He wasted his youth in front of a computer screen.
PREP. during your ~ She contracted the disease during her youth.
from ~ from youth to maturity
in your ~ He started going to discos in his early youth.
since your ~ I haven't danced since my youth!
throughout your ~ He played football throughout his youth.
PHRASES not in the first flush of youth Though no longer in the first flush of youth she's still remarkably energetic.
scenes from/of sb's youth

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

youth
II. being young
ADJ. extreme Her extreme youth was against her.
comparative | eternal in search of eternal youth
VERB + YOUTH have You still have your youth?that's the main thing.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

youth
III. young person
ADJ. male | black, white | callow He was a callow youth when he joined the newspaper.
pimply, spotty She's going out with some spotty youth.
fresh-faced | gangling
QUANT. gang, group

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

youth
IV. young people
ADJ. modern the aspirations of modern youth
local | urban | working-class | delinquent, disaffected | unemployed | educated | gilded (figurative) a club for the gilded youth (= rich and spoilt young people) of London
YOUTH + NOUN culture | club, group, movement, organization, subculture, work | leader, worker | employment, unemployment, training | court, crime, custody a crackdown on youth crime
PHRASES the youth of today

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

youth

spend your youth
She spent her youth in India.
relive/recapture your youth (=do things you did when young, to try and experience youth again)
The band’s fans are clearly reliving their youth.
The sports car is an attempt to recapture his youth.
a misspent youth (=spent doing things that were bad or not useful)
He is trying to make up for his misspent youth.
your lost youth (=the time long ago when you were young)
He wept for his lost youth.
the days/dreams/friends etc of sb’s youth
He had long ago forgotten the dreams of his youth.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

youth
noun
BAD: There'll be a lot of youths at the party and so you should be able to enjoy yourself.
GOOD: There'll be a lot of young people at the party and so you should be able to enjoy yourself.
BAD: Life in a city is more interesting for the youth because there are more things to do.
GOOD: Life in a city is more interesting for young people because there are more things to do.

Usage Note:
Youth (countable) is used, often in a disapproving way, to refer to a boy/young man between the ages of about fifteen and twenty: 'He was attacked and robbed by a gang of youths.'
Youth (uncountable) is used mainly in formal styles to refer to all young people considered as a group in society: 'The youth of industrialized nations need to be made aware of global problems.'
The usual phrase for 'people between the ages of about fifteen and twenty' is young people : 'These holidays are designed for young people like yourselves.'

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Common Errors ▲

child someone who is not yet an adult. You don’t usually use child to talk about babies or teenagers:
Many children are scared of the dark.
He’s just a child.
kid informal a child. Kid is the usual word to use in everyday spoken English:
We left the kids in the car.
little boy/little girl a young male or female child:
I lived there when I was a little girl.
Little boys love dinosaurs.
teenager someone between the ages of 13 and 19:
There’s not much for teenagers to do around here.
adolescent a young person who is developing into an adult – used especially when talking about the problems these people have:
He changed from a cheerful child to a confused adolescent.
youth especially disapproving a teenage boy – especially one who is violent and commits crimes:
He was attacked by a gang of youths.
a youth court
youngster a child or young person – used especially by old people:
You youngsters have got your whole life ahead of you.
He’s a bright youngster with a good sense of humour.
minor law someone who is not yet legally an adult:
It is illegal to sell alcohol to a minor.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

man an adult male human:
a young man
Sir Edmund Hillary was the first man to climb Mount Everest.
guy (also bloke/chap British English) informal a man:
She’d arranged to meet a guy in the bar.
Alex is a really nice bloke.
gentleman formal a man – used as a very polite way of talking about a man:
an elderly gentleman
Please could you serve this gentleman?
boy a young male person, usually a child or a teenager:
a teenage boy
lad old-fashioned informal a boy or young man:
When I was a young lad, I wanted to join the army.
youth a teenage boy or young man – used especially in news reports to show disapproval:
Gangs of youths roam the streets.
male formal a man – used especially by the police or in science and research contexts. The adjective male is much more common than the noun:
We are investigating the death of an unidentified male.
The condition is usually found only in males.
dude American English informal a man - a very informal use:
You could tell there was something creepy going on with that dude.
masculine considered to be more typical of a man than of a woman:
He had a very masculine face.
masculine aggression
manly having the qualities that people expect and admire in a man, such as being brave and strong:
He took off his shirt, revealing his manly chest.
It isn’t considered manly to cry.
In the portrait, the King looked manly and in control.
He was bronzed and athletic, with manly features and a steady gaze.
macho behaving in a way that is traditionally typical of men, for example by being strong and tough and not showing your feelings – used especially either humorously or to show disapproval:
On the outside he may seem to be very macho but inside he’s very sensitive.
Stallone always plays macho men.
He’s far too macho to drink mineral water.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

young not old:
a young man of about 22
My dad died when I was young.
There are excellent facilities for young children.
Young people are often unable to get jobs.
small/little a small child is very young. Little sounds more informal than small, and is used especially in spoken English:
They have two small children.
We used to go camping a lot when the kids were little.
teenage [only before noun] between the ages of 13 and 19:
a group of teenage boys
They have three teenage children.
adolescent especially written at the age when you change from being a child into an adult – used especially when talking about the problems that young people have at this age:
Sudden mood changes are common in adolescent girls.
adolescent behaviour
juvenile /ˈdʒuːvənaɪl $ -nəl, -naɪl/ [only before noun] formal connected with young people who commit crime:
juvenile crime
a special prison for juvenile offenders
juvenile deliquents (=young people who commit crimes)
youthful especially written seeming young, or typical of someone who is young – often used about someone who is no longer young:
a youthful 55 year old
youthful enthusiasm
Andrew still has a slim youthful look about him.
The photograph showed a youthful, smiling Rose.
junior connected with sports played by young people rather than adults:
the junior championships
the junior champion
childhood the time when you are a child, especially a young child:
I had a wonderful childhood in the country.
childhood illnesses
girlhood/boyhood the time when you are a young girl or boy:
The two men had been friends in boyhood.
the transition from girlhood to womanhood
youth the time when you are young, especially between about 15 and 25 when you are no longer a child:
He was a great sportsman in his youth.
She revisited all the places where she had spent her youth.
adolescence the time when you are changing from being a child into an adult – used especially when you are talking about the problems people have at this age:
During adolescence, boys are often lacking in self-confidence.
infancy formal the time when you are a baby:
In the past, many more babies died in infancy.
baby a very young child who has not yet learned to speak or walk:
I sat next to a woman holding a baby.
toddler a baby who has learned how to walk:
The playground has a special area for toddlers.
infant formal a baby or a very young child:
The disease is mainly found in infants.
little one spoken informal a baby, or a small child up to the age of about three:
How old is your little one?
litter a group of baby animals that are born at the same time to the same mother:
Our cat has just had a litter of six kittens.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲