nonage
noun
non·age ˈnä-nij 
ˈnō-
ˈnō- 1
: minority sense 4
2
a
: a period of youth
b
: lack of maturity
Did you know?
Minority, majority; infancy, adulthood; nonage, full age - here you have the three contrasting pairs that constitute the vocabulary of legal age. Minority, infancy, and nonage are synonyms that mean the state or time of being under legal age. Majority, adulthood, and full age mean the state or time of being of legal age. (All these words, particularly infancy and adulthood, have other meanings as well, of course.) Nonage came to us by way of Middle English from an Anglo-French union of non- and age, which combine to mean not of age.
Synonyms
- childhood
- springtime
- youth
See all Synonyms & Antonyms 
Example Sentences
the short stories of the novelist's nonage have only recently been discovered by scholars the indiscretions of his long-ago nonage have come back to haunt him now that he's a serious presidential contender
Word History
Etymology
Middle English, from Anglo-French, from non- + age age
First Known Use
15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
nonage
noun
1
as in childhood
the state or time of being a child the short stories of the novelist's nonage have only recently been discovered by scholars Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
- childhood
- adolescence
- youth
- infancy
- boyhood
- minority
- immaturity
- springtime
- juvenility
- girlhood
- babyhood
- toddlerhood
- juvenescence
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- adulthood
- majority
- winter
- middle age
- midlife
- sunset
- senectitude
2
as in adolescence
the transitional period between childhood and adulthood the indiscretions of his long-ago nonage have come back to haunt him now that he's a serious presidential contender Synonyms & Similar Words
- adolescence
- minority
- infancy
- boyhood
- youth
- manhood
- maturity
- womanhood
- preadolescence
- prime
- majority
- girlhood
- heyday
- babyhood
- bloom
- flush