Meaning & use
eighteen-year-old
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A person who is eighteen years old.
Grammar: Countable noun; the plural is eighteen-year-olds, and the hyphens stay in.
Patterns
- an eighteen-year-old
- a group of eighteen-year-olds
Her son is an eighteen-year-old who just started university.
The club is popular with eighteen-year-olds.
An eighteen-year-old can vote in most countries.
adjectivebefore a noun
Aged eighteen years.
Grammar: Used before a noun and always hyphenated: an eighteen-year-old student.
Patterns
- an eighteen-year-old someone
- an eighteen-year-old something
They have an eighteen-year-old daughter.
He bought his first car as an eighteen-year-old driver.
The study followed eighteen-year-old students for a year.
Word forms
| plural | eighteen-year-olds |
|---|
Common combinations
- an eighteen-year-old student
- An eighteen-year-old student won the science prize.
- eighteen-year-old twins
- The eighteen-year-old twins look completely different.
- a group of eighteen-year-olds
- A group of eighteen-year-olds was waiting outside the cinema.
- when I was eighteen years old
- When I was eighteen years old, I moved to another city.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
- eighteen number
- The number 18.
- eighteenth adjective
- Coming after the seventeenth.
Commonly confused: eighteen-year-old or eighteen years old?
eighteen-year-old vs eighteen years old
Written without hyphens, this is a phrase used after a verb: 'She is eighteen years old.' Before a noun, use hyphens: 'an eighteen-year-old girl.'
Practice
Which sentence uses the hyphenated form correctly?
Choose one answer.
Before a noun, the age expression is hyphenated and singular: 'an eighteen-year-old brother.' Option 0 needs no hyphens after 'is' ('She is eighteen years old'), and option 2 wrongly keeps 'years' plural before the noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “eighteen-year-old”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.