elder
noun
Simple meaning
A leader or senior member of a tribe or community, often of considerable age, respected as an authority figure.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ehlderSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɛldɚ
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 leader or senior member of a tribe or community, often of considerable age, respected as an authority figure, especially in a counselling, consultative, or ceremonial role.
A person who is older than you are
(relational, chiefly in the plural, chiefly with possessive determiners) One who is older than another.
An officer of a church, sometimes having teaching responsibilities.
A clergyman authorized to administer all the sacraments.
A small tree, Sambucus nigra, having white flowers in a cluster, and edible purple berries.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A leader or senior member of a tribe or community, often of considerable age, respected as an authority figure, especially in a counselling, consultative, or ceremonial role.
Used this way, elder is a reasonably familiar word with a mildly favourable edge. It suits considered writing and prepared speech.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Formal and ceremonial
- Usage feel
- Formal and precise
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use elder
- “We were presented to the village elder.”noun
- “One of the long-time leaders in the Church is Elder Packer.”noun
- “After being a member of the Church for a while, Bill was ordained to the office of elder.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
People who are old collectively.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Any influential person whose advice is highly respected.
The card player on the dealer's left.
Common shade tree of eastern and central United States.
Tall annual marsh elder common in moist rich soil in central North America that can cause contact dermatitis.
Maple of the Pacific coast of the United States.
A common shrub with black fruit or a small tree of Europe and Asia.
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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.