Word.ws English Dictionary

aging

/ˈeɪ.d͡ʒɪŋ/

aging is the present participle and gerund of age.

Noun

aging (countable and uncountable, plural agings)

  1. The process of becoming older or more mature.
  2. The deliberate process of making something (such as an antique) appear (or, in science fiction, become) older than it is.
  3. The accumulation of damage to macromolecules, cells, tissues and organs with the passage of time; the progressing loss of health, mobility, vibrancy and body functionality, resulting in biological death.
    Synonyms:
    senescence
  4. Wear; wear and tear.

Meaning of age

Verb

age (third-person singular simple present ages, present participle aging or ageing, simple past and past participle aged)

  1. (intransitive) To grow aged; to become old or older; to show marks of age.
    • He grew fat as he aged.
    1. (intransitive, usually, prediction) 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.
  2. (transitive) To cause to grow old; to impart the characteristics of age to.
    • Grief ages us.
    1. (transitive) To allow to mature.
      • We age the whiskey for five years.
    2. (transitive) 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.
  3. (transitive) To determine the age of (the length of time that something has been alive or in existence).
    • There are several ways to age trees.

See all 24 meanings of age

Adjective

aging (comparative more aging, superlative most aging)

  1. (Canada, US) Becoming elderly.
    • The aging artist could no longer steadily hold the brush.
    • A few aging men tiptoed in [...] men who had been Bert's companions at drinking or pennyante while the world passed them by.1949, Dorothy M. Johnson, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance; in Indian Country, London: Corgi, 1961, page 90

Synonyms of aging

Forms of aging

Verb
alternative UKageing
Noun
pluralagings
Adjective
comparativemore aging
superlativemost aging

Origin of aging

By surface analysis, age + -ing.

Words formed from aging

Phrases with aging

Words that rhyme with aging

Questions about aging

What does aging mean?
Aging means the process of becoming older or more mature.
What is aging the present participle and gerund of?
Aging is the present participle and gerund of age.
What part of speech is aging?
Aging can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce aging?
Aging is pronounced /ˈeɪ.d͡ʒɪŋ/.
What is the plural of aging?
The plural of aging is agings.

Words near aging in the dictionary

  1. Agin-Buryat Okrug
  2. aginator
  3. aginators
  4. Agincourt
  5. Aginenses
  6. aging
  7. aging in place
  8. aging like a fine wine
  9. aging like fine wine
  10. aging like milk
  11. aging like vinegar

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: aging (page history and authors); age (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-aging.wav.

Cite this entry: “aging.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/aging. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.