Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
plural noun
- dull, quasi-rheumatic pains of varying degree in the limbs during childhood and adolescence, often popularly associated with the process of growing.
- emotional difficulties experienced during adolescence and preadulthood.
- difficulties attending any new project or any rapid development of an existing project: a city plagued with growing pains.
pl n
- pains in muscles or joints sometimes experienced by children during a period of unusually rapid growth
- difficulties besetting a new enterprise in its early stages
pl.n.
- Pains in the limbs and joints of children or adolescents, frequently occurring at night and often attributed to rapid growth but arising from various unrelated causes.
Problems that arise in beginning or enlarging an enterprise, as in The company is undergoing growing pains but should be viable by next year. This expression, which dates from the late 1800s, originally referred to the joint and limb aches experienced by youngsters who are growing rapidly. By about 1900 it was being used figuratively.