of, relating to or occurring during the period of life before adulthood
3.
(of an animal or person) not yet fully grown, having not yet reached adulthood
preadult in American English
(ˌpriəˈdʌlt, priˈædʌlt)
adjective
of or pertaining to the period prior to adulthood
preadult strivings for independence
Derived forms
preadulthood
noun
Word origin
[1900–05; pre- + adult]This word is first recorded in the period 1900–05. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: burnout, desensitize, geopolitics, hookup, hydroplanepre- is a prefix occurring originally in loanwords from Latin, where it meant “before”(preclude; prevent); applied freely as a prefix, with the meanings “prior to,” “in advance of,” “early,”“beforehand,” “before,” “in front of,” and with other figurative meanings (preschool; prewar; prepay: preoral; prefrontal)
Examples of 'preadult' in a sentence
preadult
Only their first naupliar, preadult, and adult phases are planktonic.
Eduardo Suárez-Morales 2011, 'Diversity of the Monstrilloida (Crustacea: Copepoda).', PLoS ONEhttp://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3154257?pdf=render. Retrieved from PLOS CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
The results of a comparative study of the sense of humor of the preadult and mature age representatives are analysed.
R V Ershova, R Z Kiyamova 2016, 'SENCE OF HUMOR AND THEMATIC PREFERNCES IN JOKES AT PREADULT AND MATURE AGE', RUDN Journal of Psychology and Pedagogicshttp://journals.rudn.ru/psychology-pedagogics/article/view/13424. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)