age
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A time of life at which some particular qualification or power arises.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ayjIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈeɪdʒ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A time of life (usually defined in years) at which some particular qualification or power arises
“She was now of school age.”
A late time of life
“Old age is not for sissies.”
countable
Any particular stage of life.
countable
The time of life at which some particular power or capacity is understood to become vested.
An era of history having some distinctive feature
“We live in a litigious age.”
uncountable
The state of being old; the latter part of life.
verb
intransitive
To grow aged; to become old or older; to show marks of age.
transitive
To cause to grow old; to impart the characteristics of age to.
To allow to mature.
To treat or tamper with in order to give a false appearance of age.
transitive
To determine the age of (the length of time that something has been alive or in existence).
transitive
To indicate or reveal that (a person) has been alive for a certain period of time, especially a long one.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The amount of time that some being has been alive, or that some thing has been in existence, as measured from its birth or origin until the present or until some other given reference point. (Often measured in number of years; alternatively in months, days, hours, etc.; see also the usage notes)
Used this way, age is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This sense is about measurement, so it is used where accuracy is the point.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Technical/specialist writing
- Academic writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Time / latenoun
“She was now of school age.”
Eranoun
“We live in a litigious age.”
More ways to use age
- “She was now of school age.”noun
- “Old age is not for sissies.”noun
- “It was replaced because of its age.”noun
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “age” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.