Senescent

adj

adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Growing old; decaying with the lapse of time.

    "And now, as the night was senescent / ⁠And star-dials pointed to morn— / ⁠As the star-dials hinted of morn— / At the end of our path a liquescent / ⁠And nebulous lustre was born"

  2. 2
    Characteristic of old age.
  3. 3
    That ceases to divide.

    "When such lines and forms of organic development prevail, the individual, as the cell of the body, becomes soon senescent, drifting inevitably into age, decay, and death."

Adjective
  1. 1
    growing old wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
agedageingagingdecliningdecrepitdoting

Example

More examples

"The senescent man wandered away from the nursing home."

Etymology

From Latin senescens, present participle of senescere (“to grow old”), from senere (“to be old”), from senex (“old”).

More for "senescent"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.