Senectitude (noun)
sen-ek-ti-tood
The last stage of life; old age.
Senectitude comes from the Medieval Latin noun senectitūdō meaning “old age,” which in turn comes from Classical Latin senectūs, a derivative of the noun senex meaning “old man.” Senectitude entered English in the late 1700s, more precisely, in 1796 in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels
Example sentences
“As he reached his senectitude he realised it had been a good life.”
Nimble (adj) nim-bl Agile, quick in movement. / Alert, acute. Old English nǣmel quick to grasp, and numol quick at seizing, both from niman to take (more…)
Petiole (noun) pet-ee-ohl (Botany) the slender stalk by which a leaf is attached to the stem; leafstalk. 1745–55; New Latin petiolus leafstalk, special use of Latin petiolus, scribal variant of…
Preponderant (adj) pree-pon-duh-rant superior in weight, force, influence, numbers, etc.; prevailing. Preponderant was first recorded in 1650–60 and comes from the stem of the Latin word praeponderāns, which is the…
Nebulous (adj) neb-yu-lus Hazy, vague, indistinct, or confused. First recorded in 1375–1425 and comes via late Middle English from the Latin word nebulōsus, meaning “full of mist, foggy, cloudy.” (more…)
Impediment (noun) im-ped-im-ent An obstruction, hindrance or obstacle. / any physical impairment or condition that impedes normal, fluent, or easy speech; a speech disorder. First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English,…
Gamp (noun) gamp (British) (informal) Umbrella. 1860–65; after the umbrella of Mrs. Sarah Gamp in Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit (more…)
Marabout (noun) ma-ra-boot (Islam) a hermit or holy man, especially in N Africa, often wielding political power and credited with supernatural powers./ the tomb or shrine of such a man.…
Farrago (noun) far-ah-go A jumbled mixture of things. 1625–35; Latin: literally, mixed crop of feed grains, equivalent to farr- (stem of far ) emmer + -āgō suffix noting kind or…
Firkin (noun) fer-kin a small wooden vessel or tub for butter, lard, etc. First recorded around 1400–50 and comes from the late Middle English word ferdkyn or firdekyn. (more…)