Definition of "youth" []

• The condition or quality of being young. (noun)
• An early period of development or existence: a nation in its youth. (noun)
• The time of life between childhood and maturity. (noun)
• A young person, especially a young male in late adolescence. (noun)
• Young people considered as a group. (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.

• "So instead of "The nature of youth is thoughtless and sanguine, and therefore &c.," we can write, "The danger of the voyage was depreciated and the beauty of the island exaggerated by _the thoughtless nature of youth_.""
• ""In the beginning," said the Nurse, dreamily, "the men in their uniforms, the drums and horses and glitter, and the flags passing, and youth -- _youth_ -- not that you and I are yet old in years; do you know what I mean?""
• "In her own mind she set down Nathanael Harper as "a very odd sort of youth" -- (_a youth_ she still persisted in calling him) -- and turned again to his brother."