Definition of "preadolescence" []

• The period of childhood just before the onset of puberty, often designated as between the ages of 10 and 12 in girls and 11 and 13 in boys. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• ""A boy who turns 10 on January 2 could be playing alongside someone who doesn't turn 10 until the end of the year -- and at that age, in preadolescence, a 12-month gap in age represents an enormous difference in physical maturity.""
• "His simplistic and dysfunctional responses are those of someone in preadolescence."
• "Our preadolescence was spent absorbing imported comics."