Word.ws English Dictionary

oldest

Syllables: old·estUK/ˈəʊldəst//ˈoʊldəst/

oldest is the superlative form of old.

Meaning of old

Adjective

old (comparative older or elder, superlative oldest or eldest or (US, dialectal) oldermost)

  1. Of an object, concept, relationship, etc., having existed for a relatively long period of time.
    • an old abandoned building
    1. Of a living being, having lived for most of the expected years.
      • a wrinkled old man
    2. Of a perishable item, having existed for most of, or more than, its shelf life.
      • an old loaf of bread
    3. Of a species or language, belonging to a lineage that is distantly related to others.
      • the ginkgo is one of the oldest living trees
  2. Having been used and thus no longer new or unused.
    • I find that an old toothbrush is good to clean the keyboard with.
  3. Having existed or lived for the specified time.
    • How old are they? She’s five years old and he's seven. We also have a young teen and a two-year-old child.
    Synonyms:
    aged, of age

See all 23 meanings of old

Noun

oldest (plural oldests)

  1. The oldest child in a family, or individual in a group.
    • My oldest always forgets to turn the living room lights off before bed.

Synonyms of oldest

Forms of oldest

pluraloldests

Phrases with oldest

Questions about oldest

What does oldest mean?
Oldest means the oldest child in a family, or individual in a group.
What is oldest the superlative form of?
Oldest is the superlative form of old.
What part of speech is oldest?
Oldest is a noun.
How do you pronounce oldest?
Oldest is pronounced /ˈəʊldəst/ (UK).
What is the plural of oldest?
The plural of oldest is oldests.

Words near oldest in the dictionary

  1. older-aged
  2. older-fashioned
  3. oldermost
  4. Olders
  5. Oldes
  6. oldest
  7. Oldest Dryas
  8. oldest fashioned
  9. oldest occupation
  10. oldest profession
  11. oldest profession in the world

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: oldest (page history and authors); old (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: en-us-oldest.ogg.

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