Word.ws English Dictionary

eldest

Syllables: eld·est/ˈɛldɪst/

eldest adjective: (of a player) Receiving cards from the dealer first, before any other players. Also the superlative form of old.

Adjective

eldest

  1. (of a player) Receiving cards from the dealer first, before any other players.
  2. (of a hand) Having higher, or superior cards.
    • Each player draws a card, and the lowest becomes eldest hand.2003, The Card Game Set, Thunder Bay Press

Noun

eldest (plural eldests)

  1. The eldest child in a family, or individual in a group.

Also used as

eldest is also the superlative form of old.

Examples of eldest in a sentence

  • The eldest son of Lord Forbes is known as the Master of Forbes.
  • The king's eldest son succeeds his father on the throne.
  • I was in Grade 5, not much older than my eldest son.

All 33 example sentences with eldest

Synonyms of eldest

Forms of eldest

pluraleldests

Words formed from eldest

Questions about eldest

What does eldest mean?
Eldest means (of a player) Receiving cards from the dealer first, before any other players.
What part of speech is eldest?
Eldest can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce eldest?
Eldest is pronounced /ˈɛldɪst/.

Words near eldest in the dictionary

  1. elderweds
  2. elderwoman
  3. elderwomen
  4. elderwood
  5. elderwort
  6. eldest
  7. eldests
  8. eldfather
  9. eldfathers
  10. eldfellite
  11. elding

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: eldest (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)-Vealhurl-eldest.wav.

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