of a certain age
of a certain age prepositional phrase: middle-aged or older.
Prepositional phrase
- Middle-aged or older.
- Near-synonyms: (indeterminate) getting on in years, on in years, long in the tooth; (past middle age) older, senior, elderly, geriatric; see also Thesaurus:elderly
- a lady of a certain age
- Synonyms:
- getting on in years, on in years, long in the tooth, older, senior, elderly, geriatric
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see of, a, certain, age: belonging to some particular specified age range.
- All able-bodied men of a certain age were subject to conscription by royal decree.
Examples of of a certain age in a sentence
- Now that I'm of a certain age, I need reading glasses to see up close.
- Women of a certain age / They learn to rely and your job is responses / Having played the mating game1989, Graham Lyle, Albert Hammond, “I Don't Wanna Lose You”, in Foreign Affair, performed by Tina Turner:
Synonyms of of a certain age
- getting on in years
- on in years
- long in the tooth
- older
- senior
- elderly
- geriatric
Origin of of a certain age
Perhaps a calque of French d'un certain âge.
Questions about of a certain age
- What does of a certain age mean?
- Of a certain age means middle-aged or older.
- How do you use of a certain age in a sentence?
- Now that I'm of a certain age, I need reading glasses to see up close.
- What part of speech is of a certain age?
- Of a certain age is a prepositional phrase.
Words near of a certain age in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: of a certain 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.
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Cite this entry: “of a certain age.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/of_a_certain_age. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.