1
Adolescence
Ad`o*les”cence, n. [Fr., fr. L. adolescentia.]
The state of growing up from childhood to manhood or
womanhood; youth, or
the period of life between puberty and
maturity, generally considered to be, in the male sex, from fourteen to twenty-one. Sometimes used with reference to the
lower animals.
[1913 Webster]
– From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
2
adolescence
n 1: the time period between the beginning of puberty and adulthood
2: in the state that someone is in between puberty and adulthood
– From WordNet (r) 2.0
3
ADOLESCENCE,
persons.
That age which follows puberty and precedes the age of majority; it commences for males at fourteen, and for females at twelve years completed, and continues till twenty-one years complete.
– From Bouvier’s Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
Definition of Puberty
Puberty: A complex biologic and psychologic process involving sexual development, accelerated growth, and adrenal maturation heralded by the secretion of gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) from a part of the brain called the hypothalamus. This event is the first known step in the reproductive cascade. It initiates the pulsatile release of gonadotropins, gonadal secretion of sex steroids, pubertal development, and gametogenesis (the production of sperm and ova).
The word puberty derives from the Latin pubertas: coming to the age of manhood.