juvenile

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   of or relating to or characteristic of or appropriate for children or young people

   juvenile diabetes

2. 2
   adj

   Young; not fully developed.

   There are certain Climates, where the Mind ripens and attains ſooner to Perfection than in others: nay there are ſome Conſtitutions of Body, where the humours are ſo exactly mixt, that they form an admirable Temper; the Effects thereof are diſcoverable in the firſt Juvenile Years, and leave very fine Remains, even in a decrepit Age.

3. 3
   adj

   Characteristic of youth or immaturity; childish.

   Adde to this diſsipated and diſtracted ſtate of Miniſters, their private diſtreſſes and poverties, together with the publick neglect and indifferency of people toward them; who can wonder if they look pitifully one on another, which no jocoſe or juvenile drolings can relieve?

4. 4
   noun

   A prepubescent child.

   One patient, a pedophile with a long history of arrests, penal incarceration, psychiatric admissions, and outpatient psychotherapy, commented that in the past when he saw a juvenile male playing, he (the patient) would without hesitation approach the boy and make a sexual proposition. When he was on MPA [medroxyprogesterone acetate] therapy, he stated that, at worst, when he saw such a juvenile, he only smiled "with appreciation" for the boy's good looks and otherwise kept about his business.

5. 5
   noun

   A person younger than the age of majority; a minor.

   Every childhood seems to have exactly such a juvenile in its midst and mists. He's the boy who refuses to fear the opposite sex, purely because everyone else embraces that particular fear, and he's the type who is unafraid to make a decision.

6. 6
   noun

   A person younger than the age of full criminal responsibility, such that the person either cannot be held criminally liable or is subject to less severe forms of punishment.

   If the juvenile violates the conditions of the stayed sentence, typically by committing a new offense, the court may revoke the stay and require that the offender be taken into custody. The juvenile is then given written notice of the reasons for the revocation of the stayed sentence, and may have a hearing with representation of legal counsel if the revocation is challenged.

7. 7
   noun

   A publication for young adult readers.

   Formerly a publisher of juveniles, out of the market till 1959, when it will enter adult fiction field.

8. 8
   noun

   An actor playing a child's role.

   'Home,' as, following his habit of giving monosyllable titles to his pieces, T[homas] W[illiam] Robertson christened his version of 'L'Aventurière,' has been revived. […] In a juvenile part, Mr. Lytton Sothern made a successful début.

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin iuvenīlis (“youthful; juvenile”), from iuvenis (“young; a youth”) + -īlis (suffix forming adjectives indicating a relationship or a pertaining to). Iuvenis is ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂yuh₁en- (“young”), from *h₂óyu (“long life; lifetime”) (from *h₂ey- (“age; life”)) + *h₁én (“in”).