Meaning & use
youth
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Meanings
noununcountable
The time of life when a person is young, between being a child and being a full adult.
Grammar: Usually uncountable and often follows a possessive: in my youth.
Patterns
- in your youth
- a misspent youth
In his youth, he worked on a fishing boat every summer.
She spent her youth in a small town by the sea.
The photograph reminded him of the carefree days of his youth.
nounsingular
Young people as a group, especially teenagers and those in their early twenties.
Grammar: Takes a singular or plural verb in British English: the youth are/is changing.
Patterns
- the youth of a country
- youth club
The youth of the town raised money for the new skate park.
A new program aims to keep youth in school.
Politicians often court the youth vote.
nouncountableold-fashioned
A teenage boy or young man, often used in news reports about someone doing something wrong.
Grammar: Slightly old-fashioned or journalistic; plural is youths.
Patterns
- a youth was arrested
A youth was seen running from the shop.
Police spoke to three youths outside the station.
noununcountable
The quality of being young, such as energy, freshness and lack of experience.
Grammar: Often contrasted with age or experience.
Patterns
- the energy of youth
Her youth and enthusiasm impressed the whole team.
Don't mistake his youth for lack of talent.
Word forms
| plural | youths |
|---|
Common combinations
- in one's youth
- In my youth I played the trumpet.
- youth club
- The youth club meets every Friday evening.
- misspent youth
- He blamed his misspent youth for his poor exam results.
- youth unemployment
- Youth unemployment rose sharply after the factory closed.
- the fountain of youth
- Explorers searched for the legendary fountain of youth.
Synonyms and how they differ
- adolescence
- Adolescence is the formal word for the stage between childhood and adulthood, while youth can cover a wider period.
- teenager
- Teenager refers to someone aged thirteen to nineteen and is neutral, whereas youth for a single person sounds more like a news report.
- young people
- Young people is the plain, neutral way to refer to the group and is preferred in everyday speech.
- juvenile
- Juvenile is legal or scientific and can sound disapproving when used about behavior.
Opposites
Word family
- young adjective
- having lived or existed for a short time
- youthful adjective
- looking or seeming young
- youthfulness noun
- the quality of seeming young
- youngster noun
- a child or young person
Commonly confused: youth or youths? youth or youthful?
youth vs youths
Youths is the plural of youth meaning one young person, as in several youths, while youth alone usually means the life stage or young people as a group.
youth vs youthful
Youthful is an adjective describing someone who looks or acts young, while youth is the noun.
Practice
Which sentence uses youth as a countable noun for one young person?
Choose one answer.
Only the first sentence uses a youth, meaning a single young man, with an article. The others use youth as a life stage or as a group.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “youth”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.