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.
A group of about 20 — mostly Black people but also some middle-aged white women and young Latino men — pounded away with hands or sticks to a unified beat.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
An ambiguous exploration of literature and voyeurism, the Nobel laureate’s 1997 novel follows a middle-aged clerk who becomes obsessed with piecing together the life of a woman he doesn’t know.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
"It looks like him, for sure," she said, showing coordinators a photograph of a smiling, middle-aged man.
From Barron's ● Aug. 30, 2026
The mostly middle-aged crowd featured men in boat shoes and women with jewelry at an outdoor space where boats docked near the restaurant.
From Slate ● Aug. 25, 2026
It made him seem almost middle-aged, although his face with its high, smooth forehead and wide-open eyes was young.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
Definitions 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.
