dotage
Americannoun
-
a decline of mental faculties, especially as associated with old age; senility.
-
excessive fondness; foolish affection.
noun
-
feebleness of mind, esp as a result of old age
-
foolish infatuation
Etymology
Origin of dotage
Middle English word dating back to 1300–50; see origin at dote, -age
Explanation
The noun dotage describes the mental decline that many elderly people eventually experience. Those in their dotage sometimes act silly or forgetful. The first syllable in dotage rhymes with go: "DOE-tage." The verb dote means "to be silly" and also "to be infatuated," both of which can at times describe those in their dotage (including a renewed interest in romance that many may not have experienced since they were giddy teenagers, in love for the first time).
Vocabulary lists containing dotage
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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King Lear
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Tolkien Reading Day, List 7
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It broke Lyndon Johnson, turned Barack Obama’s hair gray and accelerated Joe Biden’s decline into dotage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2025
Rebecca Amos, one of the park's vets, says a special diet and some exercise will be key to looking after Victoria in her dotage.
From BBC ● Jan. 21, 2025
Charles took over the family business well past normal retirement age, while Amis was denied the illustrious dotage that great writers deserve.
From New York Times ● May 22, 2023
The generations of theatergoers who grew up on book musicals, replete with original songs that were written in a distinctive Broadway style, with roots in operetta and Tin Pan Alley, are in their dotage now.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 27, 2022
They might or might not have counted themselves happy, though; happiness as they conceived it then was a thing attained, a grand state, involving a fiefdom to survey from the plump comfort of their dotage.
From "Typical American" by Gish Jen
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
