senility


Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

se·nile

 (sē′nīl′, sĕn′īl′)
adj.
1.
a. Relating to or having diminished cognitive function, as when memory is impaired, because of old age.
b. Being a disease or condition whose cause is primarily advanced age: senile cataracts.
2. Geology At the end of an erosion cycle: senile soil.

[Latin senīlis, proper to or characteristic of old people, aged, from senex, sen-, old; see sen- in Indo-European roots.]

se′nile′ly adv.
se·nil′i·ty (sĭ-nĭl′ĭ-tē) n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

se•nil•i•ty

(sɪˈnɪl ɪ ti)

n.
the state of being senile, esp. the weakness or mental infirmity of old age.
[1770–80]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

senility

1. the state or quality of being old, especially, being afflicted with the infirmity of body and mind that sometimes comes with old age.
2. Informal. a condition of weakness of mind and body, usually associated with advanced age, characterized by the inability to remember simple, recent events, general confusion and bewilderment, and increasing debility. Cf. anility.senile, adj.
See also: Old Age
-Ologies & -Isms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.senility - mental infirmity as a consequence of old age; sometimes shown by foolish infatuations
eld, geezerhood, old age, years, age - a late time of life; "old age is not for sissies"; "he's showing his years"; "age hasn't slowed him down at all"; "a beard white with eld"; "on the brink of geezerhood"
2.senility - the state of being senile
oldness - the opposite of youngness
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

senility

noun dotage, Alzheimer's disease, infirmity, senile dementia, decrepitude, senescence, second childhood, caducity, loss of your faculties He was showing unmistakable signs of senility.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

senility

noun
The condition of being senile:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
شَيْخوخَه، هَرَم، خَرَف
senilita
senilitet
szenilitás
ellihrumleiki; elli
senilita
bunaklık

senility

[sɪˈnɪlɪtɪ] Nsenilidad f
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

senility

[sɪˈnɪləti] nsénilité f
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

senility

nSenilität f; (physical) → Altersschwäche f
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

senility

[sɪˈnɪlɪtɪ] nsenilità
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

senile

(ˈsiːnail) adjective
showing the feebleness or childishness of old age. a senile old woman.
seˈnility (səˈni-) noun
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.

se·nil·i·ty

n. senilidad, cualidad de ser senil.
English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012
References in classic literature ?
He showed marked signs of senility by a tendency to fall asleep, forgetfulness of quite recent events, remembrance of remote ones, and the childish vanity with which he accepted the role of head of the Moscow opposition.
The stream moved slowly, while from it arose groans and lamentations, cursings, babblings of senility, hysteria, and insanity; for these were the very young and the very old, the feeble and the sick, the helpless and the hopeless, all the wreckage of the ghetto.
"From infancy to senility the fingerprints of an individual change only in size, except as injuries alter the loops and whorls.
There was something childish in those eyes, though it was not the childishness of senility. What exactly it was Miss Bartlett did not stop to consider, for her glance passed on to his clothes.
Ebbits seemed sinking back into his senility with the tale untold, and I demanded:
One eye, of normal size, dim-brown and misty, bulged to the verge of popping out, and as if from senility wept copiously and continuously.
He made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided into a doddering, loose-lipped senility.
In recent years Tsai Zhong-mao has suffered from advancing senility and occasionally falls when walking.
Seniority does not mean senility. J B Greenberg, Erdington
"Mamang" is a touching film about an old woman's struggle against the senility of old age.
'Mamang,' with Celeste Legaspi in the titular role, is about an old woman's struggle against senility and her desire to be with her son Ferdie.
It stated that Chief Ogboru's actions and utterances are indications of the level of his premature senility, a climax of pernicious ingratitude and inordinate ambition to become the governor of Delta State at all cost at the peril of Deltans and total retrogression of the state.