teenage

teenage — adjective

1. between thirteen and nineteen years old — the stage of life when a person is no

1.adjectiveA2
Definition

between thirteen and nineteen years old — the stage of life when a person is no longer a child but not yet an adult.

Example

Samir's teenage daughter just started her first part-time job at a bookshop.

Kenji wrote most of his best songs during his teenage years, inspired by the friendships and changes at school.

collocation: teenage years

Common collocations
  • teenage years
  • teenage daughter
  • teenage son
  • teenage girl
  • teenage boy
  • teenage child
Synonyms
  • adolescent

    more formal and clinical; used in psychology or medicine

  • young

    broader — covers any young person, not specifically 13–19

Antonyms
  • adult

    a person who has finished the teenage years

  • elderly

    opposite end of the age spectrum

Grammar Patterns

teenage + noun (daughter, son, years, boy, girl)

Usage Note

Frequently appears before family-role nouns (daughter, son) and life-stage nouns (years). This sense only describes people — not objects, media, or concepts.

Common Mistakes

She is teenage.
She is a teenager.
'teenage' is an attributive adjective only; use 'teenager' as a predicate noun.
I bought a teenage phone.
I bought a phone for teenagers.
'teenage' with a product noun sounds unnatural unless the product is specifically designed for teenagers (e.g., teenage magazine).

2. related to the things that interest or affect people aged thirteen to nineteen —

2.adjectiveA2
Definition

related to the things that interest or affect people aged thirteen to nineteen — for example, fashion, music, problems, or daily life.

Example

The city library opened a new teenage section with graphic novels and study spaces.

collocation: teenage section

Megan gave a talk about teenage mental health at the community centre last Friday.

Common collocations
  • teenage fashion
  • teenage magazine
  • teenage culture
  • teenage mental health
  • teenage pregnancy
  • teenage problems
  • teenage section
Synonyms
  • adolescent

    more formal; often used in academic or medical writing

  • youth

    used before nouns like youth culture, youth programme; broader age range

  • teen

    informal and common in American English before film, magazine, drama

Antonyms
  • adult

    opposite age group for media, products, and experiences

Grammar Patterns

teenage + noun (fashion, culture, magazine, pregnancy, problems)

Usage Note

Unlike sense 1, this sense modifies things that are made for, about, or experienced by teenagers — not the teenagers themselves. The noun that follows is usually a topic (fashion, mental health), a product (magazine, section), or a concept (culture, rebellion).

Common Mistakes

He bought a teenage car.
He bought a car for teenagers.
'teenage' does not describe objects owned or used by teenagers unless that object is specifically designed for them (teenage magazine is fine; teenage car is not).
Teenage love is a teenage film.
Teenage love is a teen film.
in informal American English, 'teen' is more natural than 'teenage' before film, movie, or TV show.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Teenage, adolescent, young, and juvenile all describe people in the early stages of life, but they differ in age range, register, and connotation. Teenage is the most neutral, everyday word for ages 13–19 and is used almost exclusively before a noun (teenage daughter, teenage years). Adolescent is more formal and clinical — you find it in psychology textbooks and medical reports (adolescent development, adolescent behavior). Young is much broader, covering anyone from infancy to early adulthood (young child, young adult), so it lacks the specific 13–19 boundary. Juvenile is a legal or technical term that can sound negative in everyday use (juvenile delinquency, juvenile offender) and should be avoided when you simply mean teenage. For everyday descriptions of a 13-to-19-year-old person, teenage is the safest and most natural choice.

teenage ↗adolescent ↗young ↗juvenile

Common collocations

Nouns

Etymology

EnglishGermanicEnglish

Teenage combines teen (a shortening of 'teen' from the '-teen' in thirteen through nineteen) with the suffix '-age', meaning 'period of years'. The word first appeared in the early 20th century, around the 1920s, as society began to recognise adolescence as a distinct life stage with its own culture and needs. Before teenage became common, people simply said 'in one's teens' or used the word adolescent.