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juvenile & teenager
juvenile
&
teenager
What is the difference?
Mar 1, 2017 8:39 AM
Answers · 1
4
'Teenager' is a common everyday noun describing anyone between the ages of 13 and 19. The word comes from the suffix 'teen' at the end of these numbers.
'Juvenile' is a technical term meaning 'not adult'. As a noun, it is often used for animals - for example, to distinguish between the appearance of an full-grown bird and an immature one.
When applied to humans:
As a technical term, is often used in a legal context. For example, while an eighteen-year-old offender might be tried in a normal court of law and be sent to a normal prison, a fifteen-year-old would be tried in a juvenile court and be sent to a correctional facility for juvenile offenders. Both are teenagers, but only the one under 18 is classed as a juvenile.
As an adjective, it can also be used in a more everyday sense to mean childish e.g. 'His behaviour is really juvenile'.
March 1, 2017
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Danyel
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Belarusian, English, French, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian
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English, Polish
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