middle-aged

[ mid-l-eyjd ]

/ ˈmɪd lˈeɪdʒd /

Save This Word!

adjective

being of the age intermediate between youth and old age, roughly between 45 and 65.

characteristic of or suitable for persons of this age.

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of middle-aged

First recorded in 1600–10

OTHER WORDS FROM middle-aged

mid·dle-a·ged·ly

[mid-l-ey-jid-lee, -eyjd-], /ˈmɪd lˈeɪ dʒɪd li, -ˈeɪdʒd-/, adverbmid·dle-a·ged·ness, noun

Words nearby middle-aged

middelskot, midden, middie, middle, middle age, middle-aged, Middle Ages, middle-age spread, Middle America, Middle American, Middle Atlantic States

How to use middle-aged in a sentence

At 10 past 5, a middle-aged white man climbed the stairs out of the City Hall subway.
NYC’s Garner Protesters vs. Pro-Cop Protesters|Jacob Siegel|December 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But of course, many middle aged and older Afghans have more than enough experience of violence and disorder to be cautious.
Afghanistan, We Hardly Knew You|Jonathan Foreman|December 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Nothing says class like a middle-aged woman shaming two teenaged girls on social media for not being Stepford Children!
GOP Flack Throws Shade at First Teens|Olivia Nuzzi|November 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Middle-aged, out-of-shape Putin sat idle and silent as his dreams and hopes for the future were destroyed.
How the Fall of the Berlin Wall Radicalized Putin|Masha Gessen|November 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Rumors about unmarried middle-aged people, regardless of profession or gender, are sadly as common there as elsewhere.
America’s First Post-Gay Governor|David Freedlander|October 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
This senior was middle-aged, and passing rich on eighty pounds a year.
Fifty Years of Railway Life in England, Scotland and Ireland|Joseph Tatlow
In his younger days Jacob Worse had been a little wild, and was now a jovial middle-aged man, about fifty years of age.
Skipper Worse|Alexander Lange Kielland
Sometimes this cup was won by a middle-aged man, sometimes by a girl, and sometimes by a trained athlete.
The Box-Car Children|Gertrude Chandler Warner
Middle-aged people at Zurich recollect when the old "Grindel" was still standing at the mouth of their river.
Notes and Queries, Number 178, March 26, 1853|Various
He looked up as a middle-aged man with a drooping mustache approached.
Scattergood Baines|Clarence Budington Kelland

British Dictionary definitions for middle-aged

middle-aged

adjective

of, relating to, or being in the time in a person's life between youth and old age

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