elderly
Syllables: eld·er·lyUK/ˈɛldəli//ˈɛldɚli/
elderly adjective: old; having lived for relatively many years.
Adjective
elderly (comparative more elderly, superlative most elderly)
- old; having lived for relatively many years.
- Of an object, being old-fashioned or frail due to aging.
- The car was parked toward the rear of the shop, an elderly gray-blue Dodge. It looked better than it had in years.1988, Anne Tyler, chapter 1, in Breathing Lessons
- The fleet had been ordered speculatively by Beacon Rail, and intended as heavy shunting and trip locomotives, as well as a viable low-emission replacement for the elderly Class 08/09 'BR Standard large shunter' which dates from the 1950s and 1960s.2025 October 1, “News: Romic offers all 15 Class 18 hybrid shunters for sale”, in RAIL, number 1045, page 13
- Synonyms:
- dated, outworn, decrepit, timeworn, anachronistic, antediluvial, antediluvian, antiquated, antique, archaic
Noun
elderly sg or pl (plural elderlies)
elderly meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
elderly in Hindi
- elderly person
- बुज़ुर्ग buzurg
elderly in Tamil
- old
- முது mutu, மூது mūtu, முதிய mutiya
- elderly as group
- முதியோர் mutiyōr
elderly in Marathi
- elderly, aged
- वयस्क vayaska
elderly in Urdu
- elderly person
- بزرگ buzurg
More languagesFewer languages
- elderly in Bengali
- বয়স্ক boẏosko, বয়স্কা boẏoska, বুজুর্গ bujurg
- elderly in Telugu
- పెద్దలు peddalu
- elderly in Malayalam
- സാമാന്യം പ്രായം ചെന്ന, വയസ്സുചെന്ന, മുതിർന്ന, മൂത്ത
- elderly in Kannada
- ಹಿರಿಯನಾದ, ವಯಸ್ಸಾದ, ಹಿಂದಿನ ಕಾಲದ, ವೃದ್ಧ
- elderly in Punjabi
- ਬੁੱਢਾ buḍḍhā
- elderly in Odia
- ବଯ଼ସ୍କ
- elderly in Tagalog
- matanda
- elderly in Arabic
- مُسِنُّون musinnūn, مُسِنّات musinnāt, مَسانّ masānn, مُسِنّ musinn
Examples of elderly in a sentence
- Although the elderly man felt mounting pain from his illness, he never complained or puled.
- When applied to women, 'handsome' is used mostly of such as are middle-aged or elderly.
- Helping the elderly man to cross the street was a fine mitzvah for Robert.
Synonyms of elderly
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- archaic
- backward
- backwards
- behind the times
- cobwebbed
- cobwebby
- defunct
- desuete
- discontinued
- disused
- dootsie
- extinct
- expired
- fossilized
- Havishamesque
- hoary
- idle
- Miss Havishamesque
- mouldy
- obsolete
- oldfangled
- old-fashioned
- old school
- outdated
- outmoded
- out of date
- out of fashion
- parachronistic
- passé
- primitive
Antonyms
Forms of elderly
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more elderly |
| superlative | most elderly |
| Noun | |
| plural | elderlies |
Origin of elderly
From elder + -ly.
Words formed from elderly
Questions about elderly
- What does elderly mean?
- Elderly means old; having lived for relatively many years.
- What is elderly in Hindi?
- Elderly in Hindi is बुज़ुर्ग (buzurg). See Elderly meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is elderly?
- Elderly can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce elderly?
- Elderly is pronounced /ˈɛldɚli/ (US).
Words near elderly in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: elderly (page history and authors); वयस्क (Marathi) (page history and authors); elderly (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); elderly (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਬੁੱਢਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); elderly (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: en-us-elderly.ogg.
Cite this entry: “elderly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/elderly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.