Wizened Meaning
/ˈwɪzənd/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbsimple past and past participle of wizen
adjWithered; lean and wrinkled by shrinkage as from age or illness.
Sentence Examples
The old man had a wizened face.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ old man had deep wrinkles on his face after many years of hard work.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ old man shared his many stories about the past with the young children who lived in the village today.
Word Origin & History
From wizen + -ed. Inherited from Middle English wisenen, from Old English wisnian, weosnian, from Proto-Germanic *wisnōjaną. Cognate with Icelandic visna.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
""Ill-fard, crazy, crack-brained gowk, that she is!" exclaimed the housekeeper. . . "If it hadna been that I am mair than half a gentlewoman by my station, I wad hae tried my ten nails in the wizen'd hide o' her!""
— 1816, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 8, in Old Mortality:
"He was old, too, wizened with age, and the hair on his face was gray."
— 1907, Jack London, chapter 7, in Before Adam:
"In the simple fable about old age reconciling itself to memory and destiny, Mastroianni wears the wizened smile of a man who knows he is visiting his youth for the last time."
— 2010 May 13, Richard Corliss, “Cannes: Best-Ever Film by a 101-Year-Old Man”, in Time, retrieved 05 Oct 2013:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ old man had deep wrinkles on his face after many years of hard work.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ old man shared his many stories about the past with the young children who lived in the village today.