age.
The amount of time that some being has been alive, or that some thing has been in existence, as measured from its birth or origin until the present or until some other given reference point. (Often measured in number of years; alternatively in months, days, hours, etc.; see also the usage notes)
Meaning & usage
The amount of time that some being has been alive, or that some thing has been in existence, as measured from its birth or origin until the present or until some other given reference point. (Often measured in number of years; alternatively in months, days, hours, etc.; see also the usage notes)
"What is the age of your oldest child?" — "He's ten." (ten years old)
What were their ages at the time of their marriage?
The state of being old; the latter part of life.
Wisdom doesn't necessarily come with age, sometimes age just shows up all by itself.
Any particular stage of life.
the age of infancy
The time of life at which some particular power or capacity is understood to become vested.
the age of consent; the age of discretion
Maturity; especially, the time of life at which one attains full personal rights and capacities.
to come of age; she is now of age
A particular period of time in history, as distinguished from others.
the golden age of cinema; the first age of colonialism; a bygone age
A particular period of time in history, as distinguished from others. The time or era in history when someone or something was alive or flourished.
the age of Pericles; the age of the dinosaurs
A particular period of time in history, as distinguished from others. A great period in the history of the Earth.
The Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age.
A particular period of time in history, as distinguished from others. The shortest geochronologic unit, being a period of thousands to millions of years; a subdivision of an epoch (or sometimes a subepoch).
The Tithonian Age was the last in the Late Jurassic Epoch.
One of the twelve divisions of a Great Year, equal to roughly 2000 years and governed by one of the zodiacal signs; a Platonic month.
A period of one hundred years; a century.
A generation.
There are three ages living in her house.
A long time.
It’s been an age since we last saw you.
Lifespan, lifetime; the total time that some being is alive from birth to death (or some category of beings, on average).
The age of man is three score years and ten.
Thrice the age of a dog is that of a horse.
The entitlement of the player to the left of the dealer to pass the first round in betting, and then to come in last or stay out; also, the player holding this position; the eldest hand.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ey- Proto-Indo-European *-u Proto-Indo-European *h₂óyu Proto-Indo-European *-wom Proto-Indo-European *h₂oywom Proto-Italic *aiwom Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ts Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ts Proto-Italic *-tāts Proto-Italic *aiwotāts Latin aetātem Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātus Proto-Indo-European *-ikos Proto-Italic *-ikos Latin -icus Latin -āticus Latin -āticum Vulgar Latin *aetāticum Old French eagebor. Middle English age English age From Middle English age, Old French aage, eage, edage, from an assumed Vulgar Latin *aetāticum, derived from Latin aetātem, itself derived from aevum (“lifetime”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyu- (“vital force”). Compare French âge. Displaced native Old English ieldu. The verb is from Middle English agen, from the noun. Originally found mostly as a participial adjective, probably an adjective in -ed, derived from the noun, reanalyzed to create a verb; perhaps modeled on such pairs as Latin senēscō (seneō; verb) / senex (adjective) and Middle French vieillir (verb) / vieil (adjective). Also compare Old French se aagier, eogier (“become of age”).
To grow aged; to become old or older; to show marks of age.
He grew fat as he aged.
To grow aged; to become old or older; to show marks of age. To suffer the passage of time so as to later be viewed or turn out in a certain way.
His prediction that we didn't stand a chance hasn't aged well, now that we've won the cup.
The sitcom was made in the 1970s and its casual sexism has not aged well.
To cause to grow old; to impart the characteristics of age to.
Grief ages us.
To cause to grow old; to impart the characteristics of age to. To allow to mature.
We age the whiskey for five years.
To cause to grow old; to impart the characteristics of age to. To treat or tamper with in order to give a false appearance of age.
This clock is modern, but it has been deliberately aged in an attempt to make it seem antique.
To determine the age of (the length of time that something has been alive or in existence).
There are several ways to age trees.
To indicate or reveal that (a person) has been alive for a certain period of time, especially a long one.
I clearly remember hearing the news of Kennedy's assassination. That ages me.
To allow (something) to persist by postponing an action that would extinguish it, as a debt.
Money's a little tight right now. Let's age our bills for a week or so.
To categorize by age.
One his first assignments was to age the accounts receivable.
Where this word comes from
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ey- Proto-Indo-European *-u Proto-Indo-European *h₂óyu Proto-Indo-European *-wom Proto-Indo-European *h₂oywom Proto-Italic *aiwom Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ts Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ts Proto-Italic *-tāts Proto-Italic *aiwotāts Latin aetātem Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātus Proto-Indo-European *-ikos Proto-Italic *-ikos Latin -icus Latin -āticus Latin -āticum Vulgar Latin *aetāticum Old French eagebor. Middle English age English age From Middle English age, Old French aage, eage, edage, from an assumed Vulgar Latin *aetāticum, derived from Latin aetātem, itself derived from aevum (“lifetime”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyu- (“vital force”). Compare French âge. Displaced native Old English ieldu. The verb is from Middle English agen, from the noun. Originally found mostly as a participial adjective, probably an adjective in -ed, derived from the noun, reanalyzed to create a verb; perhaps modeled on such pairs as Latin senēscō (seneō; verb) / senex (adjective) and Middle French vieillir (verb) / vieil (adjective). Also compare Old French se aagier, eogier (“become of age”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.