grownupness

English

Etymology

grownup +‎ -ness

Noun

grownupness (uncountable)

1. (informal) Adulthood; maturity.
   • 1991, Melanie Thernstrom, The Dead Girl, →ISBN, page 167:

     Look, the point is, we'll tell them anything we want, and we'll lead our lives any way we want, because we're the ones who will be grownup, and grownupness will work around us, not vice versa.

   • 2011, Mary Anderson, PhD, Jane Goodman, PhD, Nancy K. Schlossberg, EdD, Counseling Adults in Transition, →ISBN, page 108:

     Perhaps one of the triggers to a midlife self-transition is the recognition that this “grownupness” may never happen, that it is a myth.

   • 2011, Alex Jones, Cedar Flat, →ISBN, page 172:

     Happiness at seeing her mother, Tegan's friendly company, the sociable grownupness of it all had relegated Moses's story almost to the distant domain of night terrors and childish imaginings.

   • 2014, Jen Gilbert -, Sexuality in School: The Limits of Education, →ISBN:

     The challenge of this question is that it requires adults to consider our own perceptions of youth and to place youth in relation to our views of sexuality, maturity, and vague, largely unarticulated beliefs about “grownupness.”

Alternative forms

• grown-upness, grown-up-ness