sexagenary
Americanadjective
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of or relating to the number 60.
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composed of or proceeding by sixties.
noun
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sexagenaries
plural
Usage
What does sexagenary mean? Sexagenary is a less common word for a sexagenarian—someone in their 60s (60 to 69 years old), or someone who is 60 years old. Like sexagenarian, sexagenary can also be used as an adjective to describe someone in their 60s, as in Our audience is mostly made up of sexagenary women, or things related to such a person, as in I have entered my sexagenary years. The similar term septuagenary can refer to or describe someone in their 70s. Terms with the same ending as sexagenarian include quadragenarian (40s), quinquagenarian (50s), septuagenarian (70s), octogenarian (80s), and nonagenarian (90s). Sexagenary can also be used as an adjective to describe things involving the number 60 or to mean composed of or proceeding by 60s. Notably, the Chinese calendar is based on a sexagenary cycle, meaning each cycle lasts 60 years. Example: Today is my last day as a sexagenary—tomorrow I begin my 70s!
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sexagenary
1525–35; < Latin sexāgēnārius, equivalent to sexāgēn ( ī ), distributive of sexāgintā sixty + -ārius -ary
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.
I have another dear friend, who is a sexagenary bachelor.
From Hyperion by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The child, now a sexagenary, disclosed it to the municipality.
From Scientific American magazine Vol 2. No. 3 Oct 10 1846 The Advocate of Industry and Journal of Scientific, Mechanical and Other Improvements by Rufus Porter
In China, the present sexagenary cycle commenced with the year 1805, and the years Tao-Kouang date from 1820, the epoch when the Emperor now reigning mounted the throne.
From Travels in Tartary, Thibet, and China During the years 1844-5-6 Volume 2 by Évariste Régis Huc
The third system was that of the sexagenary cycle.
From A History of the Japanese People From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era by F. (Frank) Brinkley
It was Ta-nao, Minister to the Emperor Hwang-ti, who, by command of his Sovereign, devised the sexagenary cycle.
From The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Henry Yule
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.
