# adult (person)

a person with growth that is now different

- Computed level: L7 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: people.social  ·  Arena: adult

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [people](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-people.social), [development](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-development.growth), [difference](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-difference.relation)

**Through:** growth changes the person so it is different

**Novel properties:**
- legal status
- reproductive capacity
- social role

## Examples
- A human reaches skeletal maturity around age 25, when the epiphyseal plates in the long bones fully ossify. *(biology)*
- The legal age of majority in Japan changed from 20 to 18 in 2022, redefining adult status for 1.3 million people. *(institutions)*
- In 2005, the United Nations revised its demographic models after global life expectancy rose past 65 years on average. *(demographics)*

## Used by
- [gay](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-gay.sexual) (L15)
- [man](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-man.human) (L8)
- [teen](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-teen.age) (L9)
- [women](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-women.social) (L8)

---
*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-adult.person*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-adult.person.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*