Adult

An adult is a human being or living organism that is of relatively mature age, typically associated with sexual maturity and the attainment of reproductive age. In human context, the term has other subordinate meanings associated with social and legal concepts; for example, a legal adult is a legal concept for a person who has attained the age of majority and is therefore regarded as independent, self-sufficient, and responsible (contrast with "minor"). Adulthood can be defined in terms of physiology, psychological adult development, law, personal character, or social status.

Famous quotes containing the word adult:

“A healthy male adult bore consumes each year one and a half times his own weight in other people’s patience.”
—John Updike (b. 1932)

“The infant runs toward it with its eyes closed, the adult is stationary, the old man approaches it with his back turned.”
—Denis Diderot (1713–1784)

“We are all adult learners. Most of us have learned a good deal more out of school than in it. We have learned from our families, our work, our friends. We have learned from problems resolved and tasks achieved but also from mistakes confronted and illusions unmasked. . . . Some of what we have learned is trivial: some has changed our lives forever.”
—Laurent A. Daloz (20th century)

Related Subjects