adultとは

発音

• (Received 発音, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈæd.ʌlt/, /ˈæd.əlt/
  • (米国発音, Canada) IPA^(key): /əˈdʌlt/, /ˈæd.əlt/
  • 韻: -ʌlt

名詞

adult (複数形 adults)

1. A fully grown human or animal.
   • 1840, Georges Cuvier, Edward Blyth, Robert Mudie, George Johnston, and J.O. Westwood, “The fourth order of reptiles—The batrachians”, in Cuvier's Animal Kingdom‎^[1], page 286:

     The young not only differs from the adult by the presence of its gills, but its feet are only developed by degrees, and in several genera there are also a deciduous beak and tail, and intestines of a different form

2. A person who has reached the legal age of majority.

派生語

• adultly
• adultness

形容詞

adult (comparative more adult, superlative most adult)

1. Fully grown.

   an adult human, animal, or plant

   • 1837, Michael Donovan, Domestic Economy: Human Food, Animal and Vegetable‎^[2], page 86:

     The paws of the adult brown bear, and also their hams, especially when smoked, are considered a great delicacy.

2. Intended for or restricted to adults rather than children.

   adult clothes

3. Containing material of an explicit sexual nature; of, or pertaining to, pornography.

   an adult movie

   This program contains adult content. Parental discretion is advised.

4. Vulgar or profane.

同意語

• (fully grown): big, fully grown, grown up
• (unsuitable for children): blue, dirty, lewd, obscene, pornographic, X-rated, XXX, XXXX

関連する語

• adolescent
• adulthood

動詞

adult (三人称単数 現在形 adults, 現在分詞 adulting, 過去形および過去分詞形 adulted) (transitive)

2. (nonstandard, まれに) To (cause to) be or become an adult.
   • 1974, Occasional Papers (Syracuse University), issues 42-46, page 5:

     Womanhood was achieved at twenty-one, when the female was "adulted"; manhood was fully achieved at twenty-five, […]

   • 2013, Ewa Rewers, The Contradictions of Urban Art →ISBN, page 84:

     The process of adulting children […] overlaps with the process of the uncontrolled infiltration of the media […] into children’s imagination.

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:adult.

Further reading

• adult in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• adult in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911