grownup

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈɡroʊnˌʌp/ UK /ˈɡrəʊnʌp/ See IPA manual

noun adj

Meanings

1

noun
an adult; characteristic of adults

The child longed to do grownup things like staying up late.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · an adult; characteristic of... adult mature elder

Opposites

child minor youngster juvenile

Word family

Related forms grow grown growth

Etymology

Compound of grown (past participle of grow) + up. Grow is from Old English growan ('to grow, flourish'), from Proto-Germanic *grōaną.

growan Old English *grōaną Proto-Germanic

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Topics

Describing Qualities

# grownup

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun, adj
**IPA (US):** ˈɡroʊnˌʌp
**IPA (UK):** ˈɡrəʊnʌp

## Meanings
1. an adult; characteristic of adults

## Examples
- The child longed to do grownup things like staying up late.

## Synonyms
- adult
- mature
- elder

## Antonyms
- child
- minor
- youngster
- juvenile

## Related Forms
- grow
- grown
- growth

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: growan
- Root: *grōaną

## Etymology
Compound of grown (past participle of grow) + up. Grow is from Old English growan ('to grow, flourish'), from Proto-Germanic *grōaną.

## AI Etymology
Grownup is a compound of grown (past participle of grow) + up. Grow is from Old English growan ('to grow, flourish'), from Proto-Germanic *grōaną. The compound structure is semantically important: one element narrows the setting, direction, or quality, and the other supplies the object, action, or base idea. As a noun and adjective, it denotes "an adult; characteristic of adults", keeping the historical idea close to its dictionary sense. Relevant historical forms include Old English growan and Proto-Germanic *grōaną. Related words include grow, grown, growth.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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grownup

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