age Hear it!

age definition

age (āj)

noun

  1. the time that a person or a thing has existed since birth or beginning
  2. usual or expected life span the age of a medieval peasant was quite short
  3. a stage of life she is at the awkward age
  4. the condition of being old; old age wearied with age
  5. a generation
    1. any interval of geologic time; specif., a subdivision of an epoch corresponding to the rock strata of a stage ()
    2. any prehistoric cultural period in human development the Stone Age
    3. a period characterized by some person or by some outstanding feature or influence the Elizabethan Age, the Space Age
  7. Informal a long time

Etymology: ME < OFr aage < ML *aetaticum < L aetas, contr. < aevitas, akin to aevum, age, eternity < IE base *aiw- > aye

intransitive verb aged, aging ag′·ing or ageing age′·ing

  1. to grow old or show signs of growing old
  2. to ripen or become mature

transitive verb

  1. to make, or make seem, old or mature
  2. to cause to ripen or become mature over a period of time under fixed conditions to age cheese
age Idioms

of age

having reached the age when one has full legal rights

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Alternate definitions:

idioms age idiom

law age definition - legal

medical age definition - medical

age Synonyms

age

n.

  1. The period of one's existence

    span, lifetime, duration, time of life; see life 4.

    Particular stages of life include: infancy, childhood, girlhood, boyhood, adolescence, teens, youth, adulthood, middle age, old age, dotage, sweet sixteen*, flaming youth*, anecdotage*.

  2. Old age

    old age, advanced years, elderliness, senescence, antiquity, oldness, ancientness, decrepitude, superannuation, seniority, maturity, golden years, declining years, sunset years, winter of life, senectitude; see also sense 1.

  3. A period of time

    epoch, era, period, time, century, decade, eon, generation, interval, interim, term, days (of someone or something); see also life 4, period 1.

  4. *A long time; often plural

    eon, eternity, years, dog's age*, coon's age*, donkey's years*, month of Sundays*. See syn. study at period.

of age

adult, mature, eighteen, twenty-one, having attained one's majority; see also mature 1.


age

v.

  1. To grow old

    grow old, get on, get on in years, grow feeble, decline, wane, advance in years, wrinkle, deteriorate, fail, waste away, turn gray, turn white, show one's years, show one's age, have one foot in the grave*, go downhill*, be over the hill*.

  2. To mature

    ripen, develop, mellow, mature; see grow 2.


Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

age Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • reach: Lindsey was just reaching the age where she could be trusted in the house on her own.

Adjective modifier

  • golden: There never was a golden age of public housing.

Modifies a noun

  • discrimination: Only then can there be quick and fair remedies for victims of age discrimination in health care.

Noun used with modifier

  • retirement: We will all face a hike in the retirement age.

Preposition: of

  • fourteen: In other words, just under half of the original sample were retained in the school system to the age of fourteen.
age usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

age quotes

We live in the age of mass loquacity.We are all writing it or at any rate talking it: the memoir, the apologia, the c.v., the cri de coeur.

-Amis, Martin Louis

I bequeath my soul to God† For my name and memory, I leave it to men's charitable speeches, and to foreign nations, and the next age.

-Bacon, Francis,Viscount St Albans

   We are essentially fragile.We don't have to wait for the sword or some other equally sensational weapon to strike us down† There are so many ways of us dying it's astonishing any of us choose old age.

-Bainbridge, Dame Beryl Margaret

age quotes (more)

Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations Copyright © 2005 by Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Link to this page:

Cite this page:

MLA Style

"age." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 5 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/age>

APA Style

age. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 5th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/age

Comments:

Please or Register to post a comment