Word.ws English Dictionary

elderdom

elderdom noun: authority; dominion.

Noun

elderdom (uncountable)

  1. Authority; dominion.
    • Both of these things Moses fulfilled, when he refused elderdom or authority, [...]1852, Alfred (King of England), The whole works of King Alfred the Great
  2. Preeminence; superiority.
    • The name of one of these was Claudius, who arrogated to himself elderdom over the others, though they by no means allowed his claim of superiority, hut quarrelled with him.1773, Paulus Orosius, Daines Barrington, The Anglo-Saxon version
  3. The authority, rule, or office of an elder.
    • Hence the popular belief that elderdom was most of all at home on Russian soil.2005, Philip Sheldrake, The new Westminster dictionary of Christian spirituality
  4. The state of being an elder, or of being older; elderhood.
    • Thanks to him, I have a better sense of what it takes to morph gracefully into elderdom.2010, Janis Abrahms Spring, Ph.D., Janis Abrahms Spring, Michael Spring, Life with Pop: Lessons on Caring for an Aging Parent
  5. The role or influence of an elder or elders.
    • The weight of elderdom in our family was like a drapery to be taken for granted. In which anyone could at times gratefully hide.2005, Hortense Calisher, Tattoo for a Slave

Origin of elderdom

From Middle English *elderdom, alderdom, from Old English ealdordōm (“greatness, power, authority, lordship, eldership, rule, dominion, magistracy, principality, superiority, preeminence, primacy, government, any official position involving command of others, beginning”), equivalent to elder + -dom. Cognate with West Frisian âlderdom (“eld, old age, antiquity”), German Altertum (“antiquity”), Swedish ålderdom (“eld, age”).

Questions about elderdom

What does elderdom mean?
Elderdom means authority; dominion.
What part of speech is elderdom?
Elderdom is a noun.

Words near elderdom in the dictionary

  1. elderbush
  2. elderbushes
  3. eldercare
  4. eldercide
  5. eldercides
  6. elderdom
  7. eldered
  8. elderfather
  9. elderfathers
  10. elderflower
  11. elderflowers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: elderdom (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.

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