decrepitude

[dih-krep-i-tood, -tyood]

See more synonyms for decrepitude on Thesaurus.com

noun

decrepit condition; dilapidated state; feebleness, especially from old age.

Origin of decrepitude

1595–1605; < French décrépitude, derivative of décrépit decrepit; see -tude

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for decrepitude

weakness, age, infirmity, dilapidation, decay

Examples from the Web for decrepitude

Contemporary Examples of decrepitude

Face it, we like our blues singers to show some signs of decrepitude.
Do Blues Musicians Need to be Really, Really Old?
Ted Gioia
September 22, 2013

Historical Examples of decrepitude

Even the infirmities and the decrepitude that afflicted could not deliver him.
The Memoirs of Louis XIV., His Court and The Regency, Complete
Duc de Saint-Simon
Every one who lived to decrepitude knew that he must expect it.
Folkways
William Graham Sumner
The Arab, old as he may have been, showed no signs either of stiffness or decrepitude.
The Boy Slaves
Mayne Reid
The wit of the early volumes of Punch is in the last stages of decrepitude.
G. K. Chesterton, A Critical Study
Julius West
There was, in fact, no evidence of decrepitude anywhere about him.
Heart of the Blue Ridge
Waldron Baily

Word Origin and History for decrepitude

n.

c.1600, from French décrépitude (14c.), from Latin decrepitus (see decrepit).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper