young

1. 1

   In the early part of growth or life; born not long ago.

   • a lamb is a young sheep
   • these picture books are for young readers
2. 2

   At an early stage of existence or development; having recently come into existence.

   • the age of space travel is still young
   • a young business
3. 3

   advanced in age; (far towards or) at a specified stage of existence or age.

   • And thou, our Mother, twice two centuries young, Bend with bright shafts of truth thy bow fresh-strung.
   • How young is your dog?
4. 4

   Junior (of two related people with the same name).

   • The young Mr. Chester must be in the wrong, and the old Mr. Chester must be in the right.
5. 5

   Early (of a decade of life).

   • 1922, E. Barrington, “The Mystery of Stella” in “The Ladies!” A Shining Constellation of Wit and Beauty, Boston: Atlantic Monthly Press, pp. 40-41, […] Miss Hessy is as pretty a girl as eye can see, in her young twenties and a bit of a fort
6. 6

   Youthful; having the look or qualities of a young person.

   • My grandmother is a very active woman and is quite young for her age.
7. 7

   Of or belonging to the early part of life.

   • The cynical world soon shattered my young dreams.
8. 8

   Having little experience; inexperienced; unpracticed; ignorant; weak.obsolete

   • Come, come, elder brother, you are too young in this.

syn. junior · baby-faced · hebetic · young · youngling · youngly · youngsome · youngthly · youthly · youthsome

ant. old · aged · grown up · senior · youthless · elderly · mature · experienced

1. 1

   Offspring, especially the immature offspring of animals.often

   • The lion caught a gnu to feed its young.
   • The lion's young are curious about the world around them.

1. 1

   To become or seem to become younger.informal

   • The aging (or younging) of a population refers to the fact that a population, as a unit of observation, is getting older (or younger).
2. 2

   To cause to appear younger.informal

   • Medicare data was "younged" by a month to achieve conformity with the conventional completed ages recorded in the census.
3. 3

   To exhibit younging.

   • Shoshonitic magmatism younged southwards in the Superior Province, commensurate with the southwardly diachronous accretion of allochthonous subprovinces.
   • The existence of magmatic belts younging northward implies that slabs of Asian mantle subducted one after another under ranges north of the Himalayas.