age

[ eyj ]

/ eɪdʒ /

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noun

the length of time during which a being or thing has existed; length of life or existence to the time spoken of or referred to: trees of unknown age; His age is 20 years.

a period of human life, measured by years from birth, usually marked by a certain stage or degree of mental or physical development and involving legal responsibility and capacity: the age of discretion; the age of consent; The state raised the drinking age from 18 to 21 years.

the particular period of life at which a person becomes naturally or conventionally qualified or disqualified for anything:He was over age for military duty.

one of the periods or stages of human life: a person of middle age.

advanced years; old age: His eyes were dim with age.

a particular period of history, as distinguished from others; a historical epoch: the age of Pericles; the Stone Age; the age of electronic communications.

the period of history contemporary with the span of an individual's life: He was the most famous architect of the age.

a generation or a series of generations: ages yet unborn.

a great length of time: I haven't seen you for an age. He's been gone for ages.

the average life expectancy of an individual or of the individuals of a class or species: The age of a horse is from 25 to 30 years.

Psychology. the level of mental, emotional, or educational development of a person, especially a child, as determined by various tests and based on a comparison of the individual's score with the average score for persons of the same chronological age.

Geology.

a period of the history of the earth distinguished by some special feature: the Ice Age.
a unit of geological time, shorter than an epoch, during which the rocks comprising a stage were formed.

any of the successive periods in human history divided, according to Hesiod, into the golden, silver, bronze, heroic, and iron ages.

Cards.

Poker. the first player at the dealer's left.Compare edge (def. 10a).
eldest hand.

verb (used without object), aged, ag·ing or age·ing.

to grow old: He is aging rapidly.

to mature, as wine, cheese, or wood: a heavy port that ages slowly.

verb (used with object), aged, ag·ing or age·ing.

to make old; cause to grow or seem old: Fear aged him overnight.

to bring to maturity or a state fit for use: to age wine.

to store (a permanent magnet, a capacitor, or other similar device) so that its electrical or magnetic characteristics become constant.

to expose (a dye or dyed cloth) to steam or humid air in order to fix the dye.

to stabilize the electrical properties of (a device) by passing current through it.

OTHER WORDS FOR age

16 ripen, mellow, develop.

See synonyms for age on Thesaurus.com

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Idioms about age

of age, Law.

being any of several ages, usually 21 or 18, at which certain legal rights, as voting or marriage, are acquired.
being old enough for full legal rights and responsibilities.

Origin of age

1225–75; (noun) Middle English <Anglo-French, Old French aage, eage, equivalent to aé (<Latin aetātem accusative of ae(vi)tās age; aev(um) time, lifetime + -itās-ity) + -age-age; (v.) Middle English agen, derivative of the noun

synonym study for age

6. Age, epoch, era, period all refer to an extent of time. Age usually implies a considerable extent of time, especially one associated with a dominant personality, influence, characteristic, or institution: the age of chivalry. Epoch and era are often used interchangeably to refer to an extent of time characterized by changed conditions and new undertakings: an era ( or epoch ) of invention. epoch sometimes refers especially to the beginning of an era: the steam engine—an epoch in technology. A period may be long or short, but usually has a marked condition or feature: the glacial period; a period of expansion.

OTHER WORDS FROM age

in·ter·age, adjectivepre·age, verb, pre·aged, pre·ag·ing.subage, nounun·ag·ing, adjective

Other definitions for age (2 of 4)

-age

a suffix typically forming mass or abstract nouns from various parts of speech, occurring originally in loanwords from French (voyage; courage) and productive in English with the meanings “aggregate” (coinage; peerage; trackage), “process” (coverage; breakage), “the outcome of” as either “the fact of” or “the physical effect or remains of” (seepage; wreckage; spoilage), “place of living or business” (parsonage; brokerage), “social standing or relationship” (bondage; marriage; patronage), and “quantity, measure, or charge” (footage; shortage; tonnage; towage).

Origin of -age

Middle English <Old French <Latin -āticum, neuter of -āticus adj. suffix; an extension of Latin -āta-ate¹, whose range of senses it reflects closely

Other definitions for age (3 of 4)

A.G.E.

abbreviation

Associate in General Education.

Other definitions for age (4 of 4)

Ag.E.

abbreviation

Agricultural Engineer.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use age in a sentence

An NL pitching development official9 agreed that deGrom may very well be younger in pitching years than his age suggests.
Jacob DeGrom Just Keeps Throwing Faster|Travis Sawchik|September 17, 2020|FiveThirtyEight
Disinformation about voting designed to deter turnout dates back well before the internet, but in the age of social media, it can spread like wildfire.
ProPublica’s Pandemic Guide to Making Sure Your Vote Counts|by Susie Armitage|September 16, 2020|ProPublica
The workshops are geared toward all age groups and skill levels.
D.C. fall calendar filled with virtual events|Steph Purifoy|September 16, 2020|Washington Blade
At age 14, he realized he could make money on the app and dropped out of high school to dedicate himself to the app and other side ventures.
What’s Oracle? TikTok users react to proposed Oracle deal|Danielle Abril|September 15, 2020|Fortune

The mindset with at least the older guard—and I’m in the middle at the age of 43—was that you were in this profession because you couldn’t do anything else.
Momofuku’s David Chang on the big changes the restaurant industry needs to make to survive|Beth Kowitt|September 14, 2020|Fortune
Seventy-two adults between the ages of 18 and 50 are participating in the trial, led by the pediatrics department at Oxford.
The Race for the Ebola Vaccine|Abby Haglage|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Raw eel seemed to be popular during and after the Middle Ages.
History's Craziest Hangover Cures|Justin Jones|December 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
There are about 80 million Americans between the ages of 18-34 and next year they are expected to spend $2.45 trillion.
When Will We See a #Millennial Congress?|Linda Killian|December 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
According to a 2013 Pew Research Center study 28 percent of Jews ages 18 to 49 keep kosher inside their homes.
I Ate Potato Pancakes Til I Plotzed|Emily Shire|December 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Men ages 18 to 24 enrolled in college were more likely to become a victim.
College Girls Are Less Likely to Be Raped Than Non-Students|Brandy Zadrozny|December 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Ages back—let musty geologists tell us how long ago—'twas a lake, larger than the Lake of Geneva.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60, No. 372, October 1846|Various
And it is too true that ages of subjugation have demoralized, to a fearful extent, the Italian People.
Glances at Europe|Horace Greeley
Through what ages has that declaration, not to be denied, ascended to cold and cruel skies?
Solomon and Solomonic Literature|Moncure Daniel Conway
As public accuser, he caused the death of immense numbers, of all ages and either sex.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell
At the end of 1881 there were 93,776 children in the borough between the ages of three and thirteen.
Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham|Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell

British Dictionary definitions for age (1 of 2)

age

/ (eɪdʒ) /

noun

the period of time that a person, animal, or plant has lived or is expected to livethe age of a tree; what age was he when he died?; the age of a horse is up to thirty years

the period of existence of an object, material, group, etcthe age of this table is 200 years

a period or state of human lifehe should know better at his age; she had got beyond the giggly age
(as modifier)age group

the latter part of life

a period of history marked by some feature or characteristic; era
(capital when part of a name)the Middle Ages; the Space Age

generationthe Edwardian age

geology palaeontol

a period of the earth's history distinguished by special characteristicsthe age of reptiles
the period during which a stage of rock strata is formed; a subdivision of an epoch

myth any of the successive periods in the legendary history of man, which were, according to Hesiod, the golden, silver, bronze, heroic, and iron ages

(often plural) informal a relatively long timeshe was an age washing her hair; I've been waiting ages

psychol the level in years that a person has reached in any area of development, such as mental or emotional, compared with the normal level for his chronological ageSee also achievement age, mental age

age before beauty (often said humorously when yielding precedence) older people take precedence over younger people

of age adult and legally responsible for one's actions (usually at 18 or, formerly, 21 years)

verb ages, ageing, aging or aged

to grow or make old or apparently old; become or cause to become old or aged

to begin to seem olderto have aged a lot in the past year

brewing to mature or cause to mature

Word Origin for age

C13: via Old French from Vulgar Latin aetatīcum (unattested), from Latin aetās, ultimately from aevum lifetime; compare aeon

British Dictionary definitions for age (2 of 2)

-age

suffix forming nouns

indicating a collection, set, or groupacreage; baggage

indicating a process or action or the result of an actionhaulage; passage; breakage

indicating a state, condition, or relationshipbondage; parentage

indicating a house or placeorphanage

indicating a charge or feepostage

indicating a ratedosage; mileage

Word Origin for -age

from Old French, from Late Latin -āticum, noun suffix, neuter of -āticus, adjectival suffix, from -ātus -ate 1 + -icus -ic

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with age

age

see act one's age; coon's age; golden age; in this day and age; of age; ripe old age; under age.