delayed puberty

English

Noun

delayed puberty (countable and uncountable, plural delayed puberties)

1. (medicine) Absence of any signs of puberty by a specified age, such as 14 years or 2.5 standard deviations above the mean age at onset of puberty in a population.

Usage notes

The term is subject to various technical definitions in medical sources. Delayed puberty can be classified by defects in the hypothalamic LHRH pulse generator, the pituitary gland, or the gonads. These patients will undergo spontaneous but delayed puberty, whereas patients with sexual infantilism will not.

See also

• hypogonadism
• late bloomer

Further reading

• delayed puberty on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “delayed puberty”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.