English Explanatory Dictionary

age

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The amount of time that some being has been alive, or that some thing has been in existence, as measured from its birth or origin until the present or until some other given reference point. (Often measured in number of years; alternatively in months, days, hours, etc.; see also the usage notes)
  2. The state of being old; the latter part of life.
  3. Any particular stage of life.
  4. The time of life at which some particular power or capacity is understood to become vested.
  5. Maturity; especially, the time of life at which one attains full personal rights and capacities.
  6. A particular period of time in history, as distinguished from others.
  7. The time or era in history when someone or something was alive or flourished.
  8. A great period in the history of the Earth.
  9. The shortest geochronologic unit, being a period of thousands to millions of years; a subdivision of an epoch (or sometimes a subepoch).
  10. One of the twelve divisions of a Great Year, equal to roughly 2000 years and governed by one of the zodiacal signs; a Platonic month.
  11. A period of one hundred years; a century.
  12. A generation.
verb
  1. To grow aged; to become old or older; to show marks of age.
  2. To suffer the passage of time so as to later be viewed or turn out in a certain way.
  3. To cause to grow old; to impart the characteristics of age to.
  4. To allow to mature.
  5. To treat or tamper with in order to give a false appearance of age.
  6. To determine the age of (the length of time that something has been alive or in existence).
  7. To indicate or reveal that (a person) has been alive for a certain period of time, especially a long one.
  8. To allow (something) to persist by postponing an action that would extinguish it, as a debt.
  9. To categorize by age.
noun
  1. Initialism of advanced glycation end-product.
  2. Initialism of agarose gel electrophoresis.
  3. Initialism of allyl glycidyl ether.
  4. Initialism of arterial gas embolism.

Pronunciation

/eɪd͡ʒ/ en-us-age.ogg

Word forms

age ages aging ageing aged

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ey- Proto-Indo-European *h₂óyu Proto-Italic *aiwom Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ts Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ts Proto-Italic *-tāts Proto-Italic *aiwotāts Vulgar Latin aetās Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Vulgar Latin -ātus Proto-Indo-European *-ikos Proto-Italic *-ikos Vulgar Latin -icus Vulgar Latin -āticus Vulgar Latin -āticum Vulgar Latin *aetāticum Old French eagebor. Middle English age English age From Middle English age, Old French aage, eage, edage, from an assumed Vulgar Latin *aetāticum, derived from Latin aetātem, itself derived from aevum (“lifetime”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyu- (“vital force”). Compare French âge. Displaced native Old English ieldu. The verb is from Middle English agen, from the noun. Originally found mostly as a participial adjective, probably an adjective in -ed, derived from the noun, reanalyzed to create a verb; perhaps modeled on such pairs as Latin senēscō (seneō; verb) / senex (adjective) and Middle French vieillir (verb) / vieil (adjective). Also compare Old French se aagier, eogier (“become of age”).

Synonyms

old age dotage senility seniority age chair days codgerhood eld elderliness fogeydom geezerdom golden years oldhood senescence senectitude superannuation twilight years sunset years vetustity majority adulthood epoch time era cycle day generation Great Year interval period Platonic year centennium eternity yonks aeon ages blue moon coon's age crow's age dog's age donkey's years eon forever forever and a day interim interlude lifetime long haul long run meantime minute month of Sundays spell while years mature elden date get on grow up

Antonyms

youth rejuvenate youngen youthen

Related words

age on Wikiquote decay wither go by the wayside go the way of the dinosaurs go the way of the dodo go the way of the dodo bird make older

Derived words

achievement age act one's age advanced age afterage age adjustment age-adjustment age ain't nothing but a number age before beauty age class age compression aged age difference age discrimination age distribution age dream age dreamer age-during age fright ageful age gap age gate age grade agegraphic age group age identity ageing aging age is just a number ageism ageist ageistic ageless age limit agelong age-long age-mate Age of Aquarius age of consent age of criminal responsibility age of discretion Age of Enlightenment age of extinction age of judgement age of judgment age of majority age of reason Age of Sail Age of Steam age-old age play ageplay age rating age regress age regression age regressor age-reversal ages age set age spot age-standardization

Translations

Arabic: عَصْر Arabic: زَمَان Arabic: عُمْر Arabic: عُمُر Armenian: դարաշրջան Armenian: դար Armenian: ժամանակաշրջան Armenian: տարիք Asturian: edá Bengali: যুগ Bengali: জমানা Bengali: বয়স Bengali: ওমর Bulgarian: епо́ха Bulgarian: поколе́ние Bulgarian: въ́зраст Chinese Mandarin: 時代 /时代 Chinese Mandarin: 一輩子 /一辈子 Chinese Mandarin: 一生 Chinese Mandarin: 壽命 /寿命 Cornish: oos Czech: doba Danish: epoke Danish: levetid Dutch: tijdperk Dutch: era Dutch: tijd Dutch: epoch Dutch: leeftijd Dutch: ouderdom Egyptian: r:k-hrw Esperanto: mondaĝo Esperanto: tempaĝo Esperanto: epoko Esperanto: aĝo Finnish: aika Finnish: kausi Finnish: aikalaiset Finnish: elinikä Finnish: ikä French: âge Galician: idade Galician: era Galician: época Georgian: ხანა Georgian: ერა Georgian: ეპოქა Georgian: ასაკი Georgian: ხნოვანება Georgian: წლოვანება German: Zeit German: Epoche German: Periode German: Lebenszeit Greek: εποχή Ancient Greek: αἰών Ancient Greek: ἡλικία Hebrew: תְּקוּפָה Hebrew: עידן Hebrew: גִּיל Hindi: युग Hindi: अस्र Hindi: ज़माना Hindi: आयु Hindi: उमर Hindi: उम्र Hindi: वयस् Indonesian: zaman Interlingua: epocha Irish: aois Italian: età Italian: evo Japanese: 時代 Japanese: 寿命 Japanese: 一生 Kabuverdianu: idadi Korean: 시대 Korean: 일생 Korean: 수명 Central Kurdish: دەور Central Kurdish: سەردەم Latin: aetās Latin: natus Latin: aetas Low German: tied Macedonian: доба Malayalam: കാലം Malayalam: യുഗം Malayalam: പ്രായം Maltese: żmien Middle English: age Norwegian Bokmål: tidsalder Norwegian Bokmål: epoke Norwegian Nynorsk: tidsalder Norwegian Nynorsk: epoke Occitan: edat Occitan: atge Odia: ଯୁଗ Odia: ଆୟୁ Odia: ବୟସ Iranian Persian: عَصْر Iranian Persian: دُوْرِه Iranian Persian: زَمان Iranian Persian: زَمانِه Armenian: ծերացնել Armenian: հնացնել Armenian: ծերանալ Azerbaijani: qocaltmaq Azerbaijani: qocalmaq Azerbaijani: qarımaq Azerbaijani: qocalıb-qarımaq Breton: koshaat Breton: kozhañ Bulgarian: състарявам Bulgarian: остарявам Cornish: kothhe Dutch: oud doen worden Dutch: doen verouderen Dutch: oud worden Dutch: verouderen Finnish: vanhentaa Finnish: vanhentua Finnish: vanheta Galician: envellecer Galician: avellentar Galician: envellentar Galician: avellar Galician: avellarse German: but see altern lassen German: alt machen German: altern German: vergreisen German: reifen Hungarian: öregít Hungarian: öregedik Ingrian: vanhentaa Ingrian: vanhenoittaa Ingrian: vanhoittua Ingrian: vanhentua Ingrian: vanheta Ingrian: elähtää Italian: invecchiare Malayalam: പ്രായം കൂട്ടുക Malayalam: പ്രായമാവുക Māori: pakari Norwegian Bokmål: aldre Norwegian Bokmål: elde Norwegian Bokmål: eldes Polish: postarzać Polish: starzeć się Portuguese: envelhecer Romanian: îmbătrâni Russian: ста́рить Russian: соста́рить Russian: старе́ть Russian: постаре́ть Russian: ста́риться Russian: соста́риться Spanish: envejecer Spanish: envejecerse
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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