adult

Pronunciation

• IPA ^(key): /əˈdʌlt/ or /ˈædʌlt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

Singular adult

Plural adults

1. (countable) An adult is a person who is of the legal age of majority.

   At age 18 years, he became an adult, so he could move out without his parents' consent.

   Adult usually means a person who is in a legal sense either age 18 years or older.

2. An adult is a human who is sexually, physically and/or mentally mature.

   The Harry Potter series was read mostly by young adults.

   A person may be physically mature and a biological adult by age 16 or so.

3. An adult is a sexually mature nonhuman animal.

   Adult female cows feed milk to their offspring.

Antonyms

• child