Meaning & use
look young
Last updated
Meaning
phrasefixed phrase
to have an appearance that seems younger than your actual age
Grammar: Used as a linking phrase: the adjective 'young' describes the subject, not an action. You can say 'She looks young' but not 'She looks youngly'.
Patterns
- someone looks young
- someone looks young for their age
My grandmother is 70, but she looks young for her age.
He looks young, so people often mistake him for a student.
If you want to look young, get enough sleep and drink water.
Common combinations
- look young for your age
- She looks young for her age, so no one believes she has a teenage son.
- look young and fresh
- After the holiday, he looked young and fresh.
- try to look young
- Some people try to look young by dyeing their hair.
- look much younger
- With that haircut, you look much younger.
Synonyms and how they differ
- look youthful
- 'Youthful' is slightly more formal and often suggests energy and good health, while 'look young' is neutral and simply about age appearance.
- seem young
- 'Seem' is about your impression from behavior or manner, not just physical appearance; 'look' is mostly about what you see.
Opposites
Commonly confused: look young or look like young?
look young vs look like young
'Look like' needs a noun or pronoun: 'He looks like a young man.' Don't say 'He looks like young'.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence:
Choose one answer.
'Look' is a linking verb here, so it takes the adjective 'young', not the adverb 'youngly'. 'Look like' would need a noun (e.g., 'like a young person'), and 'She look' is wrong because the third-person singular needs 'looks'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “look young”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.