senectitude

English

Etymology

From Latin senectus (“aged, old age”), senex (“old”). Compare senescent.

Noun

senectitude (uncountable)

1. old age

   Synonyms: agedness, elderliness, oldness; see also Thesaurus:old age

   • 1857, Hugh Miller, The Cruise of the Betsey, Or, a Summer Ramble Among the Fossiliferous Deposits of the Hebrides:

     Three-and-twenty years form a large portion of the short life of man,—one-third as nearly as can be expressed in unbroken numbers, of the entire term fixed by the psalmist, and full one-half, if we strike off the twilight of childhood and immature youth, and of senectitude weary of its toils.

References

• “senectitude”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.