middle-aged
Americanadjective
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being of the age intermediate between youth and old age, roughly between 45 and 65.
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characteristic of or suitable for persons of this age.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of middle-aged
First recorded in 1600–10
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.
Social media is full of videos joking about middle-aged parents dropping everything when they hear a few notes from the game's familiar ocarina melodies.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
The students’ tastes veer almost embarrassingly close to those of suburban middle-aged men.
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2026
In chapters set in the near present, Livia Cable is a childless, middle-aged piano instructor in rural eastern Tennessee.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
Helen said she thought her husband was "just being a grumpy middle-aged man"
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026
“I don’t know that it can really be explained beyond that—just a middle-aged man trying his best to make his way through this vale of tears.”
From "Louisiana's Way Home" by Kate DiCamillo
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
