legal age
When minors graduate
Legal age is the age at which a person gains specific rights or responsibilities under law.
Different activities have different legal ages: drinking, voting, driving, consent to sex, signing contracts.
She's not of legal age to buy alcohol.
The phrase often appears without specifying which threshold: Is he legal age?
In context, this usually means old enough to drink or to consent to sex.
State of being grown
- maturityFull growth achieved
- rites of passageCeremonies marking major transitions
- graduationCompleting academic requirements formally
- bar mitzvahJewish adulthood ceremony
bat mitzvah · confirmation · quinceañera · sweet sixteen · debut · walkabout · vision quest · initiation
Right to cast ballots
- enlistmentVoluntary entry into service
- jury dutyRequired courtroom participation
- contractsEnforceable written agreements
- employmentPaid occupation status
renting · tattooing · piercing · lottery · work permit · emancipation · license · driver's permit
adulthood
State of being grown
- maturityFull growth achieved
- rites of passageCeremonies marking major transitions
- graduationCompleting academic requirements formally
bar mitzvah · bat mitzvah · confirmation · quinceañera · sweet sixteen · debut · walkabout · vision quest · initiation · adolescence
suffrage
Right to cast ballots
- enlistmentVoluntary entry into service
- jury dutyRequired courtroom participation
- contractsEnforceable written agreements
employment · renting · tattooing · piercing · lottery · work permit · emancipation · license · driver's permit · financial independence
voting
Formally registering a choice
- age limitslearner permit, eighteen, sixteen, twenty-one, underage
- liquor lawsDUI, public intoxication, alcohol ban, open container, liquor license
- marriage requirementsparental consent, witnesses, marriage certificate, officiant, identification
- adulthoodadulting, maturity, responsibilities, responsibility, milestones
- adultsadult, adults, grown-up, grown-ups, mature
- age-related termschildhood, adulthood, infancy, toddler years, puberty