infancy

infancy, minority, nonage denote the state or period of being under the age established by law for the attainment of one's full civil rights and independence of guardianship.

Infancy is seldom used in this denotation outside of legal documents and court reports; in these it is especially likely to be chosen when reference is made to the condition or status of the person who is not of age

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the defendant pleaded infancy at the time the lease was made

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Minority is widely used in general as well as in legal writing and is the word most often chosen when reference is made to the period or term of being under age

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he inherited the title during his minority

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Nonage is the equivalent of infancy and minority in their legal senses, but it is often distinguishable from them in its acquired connotations and by its greater susceptibility to literary and extended use. Nonage may suggest mere immaturity

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an adolescent Parisienne . . . bored with the nonage of her contemporaries— Newsweeky

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Not infrequently it suggests adolescence and its weaknesses and strengths and may be thought of as the opposite of dotage, or senilit

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the brook we leaped so nimbly in our nonage is a mere ditch or too wide for our tonnage— Hilly er

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a world which is still after all young and has plenty of time to make good the mistakes of its nonage—Times Lit. Sup.

}