old

CEFRA1

/əʊld/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Having lived or existed for a long time.

  2. 02

    adjective

    Former or from an earlier time.

Examples

  • He was a benevolent old man who volunteered to mow his neighbors' lawns for free.

  • I am too old for this world.

At a glance

Sits at A1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • [ɒʊɫd]
  • [oɫd]

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Of an object, concept, relationship, etc., having existed for a relatively long period of time.

  2. Of a living being, having lived for most of the expected years.

  3. Of a perishable item, having existed for most of, or more than, its shelf life.

More examples

In context

  • The baby was only a few hours old.

  • a wrinkled old man

  • an old abandoned building

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

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Question 1 · Quick check

My dear grandfather is very blank; he will celebrate his ninetieth birthday next month.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

Inherited from Middle English old, oold, from Old English ald, eald (“old, aged, ancient, antique, primeval”), from Proto-West Germanic *ald, from Proto-Germanic *aldaz (“grown-up”), originally a participle form, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eltós (“grown, tall, big”). Cognates Cognate with Scots aald, auld (“old”), Yola yola, yolaw, yold, yole (“old”), North Frisian ool, ual, uuil, uul, üülj (“old”), Saterland Frisian oold (“old”), West Frisian âld (“old”), Alemannic German altu, oalt, oalts, olt, àltà (“old”), Bavarian oid (“old”), Central Franconian alt, aod, auw, oot (“old”), Cimbrian and German alt (“old”), Dutch oud (“old”), German Low German old, oolt (“old”), Luxembourgish al (“old”)...