Senility

//səˈnɪlɪti// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The bodily and mental deterioration associated with old age: Synonym of senescence. uncountable

    "Near-synonym: second childhood"

  2. 2
    the state of being senile wordnet
  3. 3
    The losing of memory and reason due to senescence. uncountable

    "He was entering his years of senility and not liking it a bit."

  4. 4
    mental infirmity as a consequence of old age; sometimes shown by foolish infatuations wordnet
  5. 5
    An elderly, senile person. archaic, countable

    "There was no need for George Playford to talk as if they were doddering senilities."

Example

More examples

"You have to get more exercise in order to stave off senility."

Etymology

From senile + -ity.

Related phrases

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