Word.ws English Dictionary

PG-13

PG-13 adjective: suitable for adolescents, typically due to the absence of explicit sexuality and intense graphic violence.

Adjective

PG-13 (comparative more PG-13, superlative most PG-13)

  1. Suitable for adolescents, typically due to the absence of explicit sexuality and intense graphic violence.
    • With the ED relatively quiet, she'd made the trek to the fifth floor to say good morning to Kevin. Unfortunately for her, she'd walked in on a love scene that wasn't exactly PG-13.2004, Andrea Boeshaar, The Long Ride Home, Harlequin Enterprises, →ISBN, page 56
    • When I said my husband had rented the tape and I repeated Geoffrey's name, everyone got silent and shot guilty glances at this one girl—the usual blond subliterate trollop, very PG-13.2013, Francine Prose, Primitive People: A Novel, Open Road Media, →ISBN, page 158

Noun

PG-13 (plural PG-13s)

  1. Content rated to be PG-13.
    • What’s happened since PG-13 films were introduced in 1984 is that we’ve experienced a ratings creep where today’s PG-13 movies contain significantly more sex and profanity than PG-13s did a decade ago.2009, Stephen Arterburn, Fred Stoeker, Every Single Man's Battle: Staying on the Path of Sexual Purity, WaterBrook, →ISBN, page 70

Examples of PG-13 in a sentence

  • I know there's a lot of business to take care of, but I'd like to spend some of my time off actually enjoying myself, even if I have to do it in a completely PG-13 way.2017, Sara Rider, Going for the Goal, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 137:
  • "It's also not exactly PG-13 down here." I glanced at JB.2020, Micol Ostow, Death of a Cheerleader (Riverdale, Novel 4), Scholastic Corporation, →ISBN, page 119:

Forms of PG-13

Adjective
comparativemore PG-13
superlativemost PG-13
Noun
pluralPG-13s

Origin of PG-13

Originates from the content rating for media entertainment in which "PG" stands for "parental guidance". There are several countries with a rating called "PG-13". The rating generally requires restrictions on profanity and depictions of adult topics like sexuality and violence.

Questions about PG-13

What does PG-13 mean?
PG-13 means suitable for adolescents, typically due to the absence of explicit sexuality and intense graphic violence.
How do you use PG-13 in a sentence?
I know there's a lot of business to take care of, but I'd like to spend some of my time off actually enjoying myself, even if I have to do it in a completely PG-13 way.
What part of speech is PG-13?
PG-13 can be an adjective or a noun.

Words near PG-13 in the dictionary

  1. Pfäffikon
  2. pg
  3. Pg Dn
  4. Pg Up
  5. PG&E
  6. PG-13
  7. PG-13s
  8. pg.
  9. PG13
  10. PGA
  11. pgACC

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: PG-13 (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “PG-13.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pg-13. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.