Preteen Glossary

A - Terms

Abuse: Misuse or mistreatment of someone or something
Accompanied: In the company of
Accomplished: Done, completed
Acquainted: To become acquainted is to become familiar and known
Adrenaline: A chemical that your body produces naturally when you are in an intense situation; related to the fight-or-flight reaction that helps you take action
Alcoholism: A problem in which someone drinks excessive amounts of alcoholic beverages, and they cannot help themselves because they feel they need the alcohol
Alternative: Another option
Alzheimer's: A disease that occurs in the elderly that is a form of dementia that involves memory loss and the impaired thought and speech processes
Anemia: A disorder in which a person does not have enough red blood cells, usually from a lack of iron. Someone who is anemic may feel tired a lot because there is not enough oxygen circulating in their body.
Anorexia Nervosa: An eating disorder in which someone does not eat because they misperceive how their body looks. They think they are too fat, and that not eating will make them thinner, but no matter how thin they are, they always think they are fat.
Anxiety: Worrying and feeling anxious
Areola: The area around the nipple that is dark
Assertive: Bold
Associate: To relate to, to connect with
Atrocious: Evil and cruel

B - Terms

Bloating: : Swelling of the area around the stomach
BMI (Body Mass Index): A number calculated by using a person's height and weight to see if it is a healthy number
Broaden: To become wider, such as when a boy goes through puberty
Burden: A responsibility

C - Terms

Calcium: A mineral found in dairy and other foods that helps build strong bones and teeth, helps the heart function, helps muscles contract and helps the blood clot
Calories: Measures of energy in food. Scientifically, one calorie is the amount of energy needed to raise them temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius.
Cancer: A disease in which the cells in the body divide and grow irregularly and spread around the body
Carbon monoxide: A chemical that comes in the form of a gas that has no odor or color so it is hard to detect. It is poisonous to breathe, so many people have carbon monoxide monitors in their house.
Chronic: Never ending or long-lasting
Chronologically: In order of time
Communication: Contact
Companion: A friend
Compromise: To settle for something in the middle that satisfies both people
Compulsion: When someone feels they have to do or say something, they cannot control the urge.
Conscious: To be aware. If you are conscious of something, you are aware of it and know it exists.
Consolation: Relief of sadness or disappointment
Consult: To ask for information
Counselor: An advisor, usually a resource at school
Crack/Cocaine: A drug made from the coca plant and is either inhaled, injected or smoked. It makes certain chemicals in the brain work faster and makes the person feel very elated and have feelings of pleasure.
Cramps: Contractions of muscles
Crucial: Very important.
Cumbersome: Hard to handle
Custody: The right given to someone by a court to be the legal guardian (aka caregiver/parent)

D - Terms

Definition: Sharpness or clarity
Depression: When someone is consistently sad for no apparent reason
Dermatologist: A skin doctor
Diabetes: A disease in which the amount of sugar in the blood is too high either because the body does not break down the sugar on its own or the body does not produce enough insulin, which helps control sugar levels in the blood
Diagnose: When a doctor identifies a disease or illness, often by examining symptoms
Discrimination: Treating someone differently based on his or her race, religion, gender, sexuality or background
Disoriented: When your senses do not work properly, and you can forget where you are, what you are doing or lose your sense of direction.
Distinction: Differentiation, to tell the difference between
Distorted: Messed up, not clear
Distraught: Confused or annoyed, angered
Diversity: Difference, variety
Domestic: Related to the home

E - Terms

Ejaculate: When semen comes out of a man's penis when he is sexually aroused
Emotionally: Relating to emotions and feelings
Empathy: Feelings of understanding someone else and his or her situation
Encounter: Someone or something you run into or to run into someone or something, someone you meet
Epicenter: The exact center where an earthquake is generated
Erection: When blood rushes toward the penis and makes it hard from sexual arousal
Estrogen: A hormone in the female body produced by the ovaries that cause a girl's body to develop into a woman's body
Evacuate: To empty, specifically in a natural disaster when people have to leave an area
Exposure: Vulnerable, shown

F - Terms

Fatigue: Tiredness, exhaustion
Felonies: Very serious crimes
Fertilized: An egg is fertilized when it joins with a sperm and begins to grow.
Financial: Relating to money and expenses
Flash-flood: A large flood due to excess rain that occurs suddenly
Food pyramid: A triangular figure designed by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) to help people meet their daily nutritional needs.
Forcible rape: Sex in which one partner is forced into the action and does not give consent
Fortified: Enriched

G - Terms

Genital: Having to do with the sex organs
Gluten: A kind of protein in many grains and found is every type of wheat, including durum, semolina, spelt, kamut, einkorn, and faro. Other grains that have gluten are barley, rye, oats, and triticale. People with Celiac Disease cannot eat any food that has these ingredients.

H - Terms

Habit: A behavior that is repeated
Hibernating: Staying in seclusion
Hormones: Chemicals in your body that increase when you go through puberty and cause changes in your body

I - Terms

Incest: Sex with a family member
Influenced: Affected
Infractions: Small crimes that cannot cause someone to go to jail, such as traffic violations
Inspiration: Excitement of the mind
Inverted: Upside down, the opposite of the normal
Iron: A mineral that helps with the production of red blood cells, which help carry oxygen around the body
Irritable: Easily angered

J - Terms

Jurisdictions: The power of the law

K - Terms

L - Terms

Libel: Something that is printed that is false
Logical: Relating to reason

M - Terms

Magnitude: Size
Malicious: Evil, full of hatred, taking pleasure in other's pain
Manipulative: Controlling
Marijuana: A drug that comes from the cannabis plant. It is usually smoked and can give the effect of euphoria, which is a sense of extreme happiness.
Maturation: The process of maturing or getting older
Menstrual cycle: The cycle in which the female body produces an egg and prepares to have a baby, but sheds the lining of the uterus if the egg is not fertilized
Mentally: Relating to the mind
Misdemeanors: Less serious crimes than felonies
Moderation: The right amounts
Mutual: A shared relationship agreed on by two or more individuals or groups

N - Terms

Nauseous: Feeling like you are going to throw up
Neutral: Not of one particular side, not involved
Nutrients: Substances that the body needs to grow and function properly

O - Terms

Obese: Extremely overweight
Ovaries: The female reproductive organs that produce an egg every month

P - Terms

Palpitations: When the heart does not beat regularly for a few seconds, it can be experienced as "pounding" in your chest or "skipping a beat." It can happen when you are scared or nervous.
Pent-up: Held inside, not showing feelings or emotion, keeping to yourself
Perceive: To be aware of
Period: The part of the female menstrual cycle when the body sheds the lining of the uterus because no egg was fertilized
Persistent: Continuous
Physical: Relating to the body, not the mind; the opposite of mental
Physically: Relating to physical things, real objects
Physician: A fancy name for a doctor
Precautions: Measures taken ahead of time to prevent something bad from happening
Predictable: Able to define what will happen in the future
Pregnancy: Having a baby growing inside the uterus, typically lasting nine months
Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS): Symptoms that occur a week before menstruation in women, including headache, cramps, nausea, irritability, bloating and feeling really sensitive
Preoccupation: Having your mind on something else
Prioritize: To put in order of importance
Procrastinating: Putting off until the last minute; often associated with putting off homework and schoolwork
Progesterone: A hormone in the female body produced by the ovaries that prepares the body for pregnancy
Progressive: Moving forward
Protein: In the body, protein helps build cells, make enzymes (which are proteins that make chemical reactions occur in the body) and hormones. It is found in dairy, meat, nuts and soy, as well as other foods.
Provisional: Temporarily, only for a certain amount of time
Psychologist: A doctor who studies how the brain works and talks with people to help them solve their emotional and mental problems
Pubertal gynecomastia: An increase in size of a man's breasts, specifically during puberty
Pubic: Relating to genital area

Q - Terms

R - Terms

Rape: Forced sex when one person does not give consent
Refined: Simplified, purified
Rejection: Denial
Richter scale: A scale that usually ranges from one to 10 that determines the intensity of an earthquake
Routine: Something that someone does repeatedly, sometimes every day

S - Terms

Scholastic: Academic
Seismograph: A tool that determines the size of an earthquake, including its direction, length and duration of time
Semen: Sperm and fluids that come out when a man ejaculates
Slander: Something said out loud that is not true
SPF (Sun protection factor): A measure of how well a sunscreen protects against sunburn (the higher SPF, the more protection from the sun)
Starch: A kind of sugar that is found in fruit, flour, rice and some vegetables such as corn and potatoes
Statutory rape: Sex between two people in which one person is under the legal age, so it is considered rape
Stimulate: To excite, to cause a change in
Suicide: When one kills oneself
Sympathize: To feel for or to understand someone's feelings or emotions

T - Terms

Tectonic: Relating to the structural movement of the crust of the earth
Temporarily: Only for a short period of time
Therapies: Treatment for a condition with words and talking, not medicines
Toxic Shock Syndrome (TMS): A bacterial infection that can occur when a female leaves a tampon in for too long. It can be very serious and present like the flu, but it can result in death if not treated.
Toxins: Things that are poisonous
Truant: A no-show, someone who does not show up

U - Terms

Uterus: The organ where a baby grows when a woman is pregnant; every month it lines with blood to prepare for a fertilized egg to arrive.

U - Terms

Utilized: Used

V - Terms

Vagina: Joins the uterus out through the body, also called the birth canal

W - Terms

Withdrawal: When a man removes his penis from the vagina during sexual intercourse before he ejaculates; not an effective form of birth control

XYZ - Terms