ungrown-upadj.n.
/ˈʌnɡrəʊnˌʌp/, U.S. /ˈənˌɡroʊnˌəp/ (in sense A. also)Brit. /ˌʌnɡrəʊnˈʌp/, U.S. /ˌənˌɡroʊnˈəp/ A. adj.
Not grown-up; immature.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > adult > [adjective] > immature adult
young-old1558
overgrown1669
Peter Panish1914
ungrown-up1937
Peter Panic1962
1937 Mind 46 515 He may feel anxiety in the face of the infantile threats of his ungrown-up super-ego.
1945 A. L. Rowse Eng. Spirit xxxiii. 229 There was something curiously unadult, ungrown-up about him.
1960 C. Storr Marianne & Mark x. 116 She thought this a very ungrown-up thing to do.
1980 J. Lees-Milne Harold Nicolson xi. 201 To some extent he..remained ungrown~up in that his code of social behaviour was what he had imbibed from his..parents and schoolmasters.
B. n.
An ungrown-up person. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > adult > [noun] > immature adult
adult child1869
Peter Pan1914
ungrown-up1946
1946 J. Lees-Milne Diary 22 Feb. (1983) 21 J. just the same sweet ungrown-up he always will be.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1937