aging

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The process of growing older and becoming more mature over time.

   Aging brings both new wisdom and gradual physical change.

   Researchers study how aging affects memory and reaction time.

2. 2
   adjective

   Growing older and approaching old age.

   An aging population places new demands on the health care system.

   The aging actor took on fewer roles with each passing year.

   Similarolder, elderly

   Oppositeyoung, youthful

   Note

   This adjective describes a process rather than a destination: an aging artist is losing ground, not yet finished, so it lands more gently than old or elderly. It usually stands before its noun (an aging population, an aging workforce) and compares with more and most. The spelling without the e is the North American one; British writers usually keep it, as ageing.

3. 3
   verb

   Present participle of age.

   The wine is aging beautifully in oak barrels.

   She felt she was aging gracefully despite all the stress.

   Note

   The same -ing form carries both directions of the verb. Used intransitively, a thing ages on its own: the wine is aging. Used transitively, someone does the aging. A cellar may be aging cheese, a forger aging a frame, or a geologist aging a rock by working out how old it is. As a gerund it heads a noun phrase (aging the wine takes years), and there it shades into the noun for growing older.

4. 4
   antique looknoununcountable

   The deliberate process of making something, such as an antique, appear older than it actually is.

   Skilled forgers use careful aging to pass off new paintings as old masters.

   The set designer relied on aging to give the fresh props a weathered, historical look.

   Similarweathering

   Note

   A word for the craftsman's or the forger's trade. Here the aging is done to a thing, on purpose, so that it looks older than it is. That sets it apart from the wear time leaves behind, which simply happens. Science fiction stretches the sense further and lets the treatment add real years rather than only their look, so in that genre an aged object or character may truly be older.

5. 5
   noununcountable

   The buildup of damage to molecules, cells, tissues, and organs over time, causing a progressive loss of health, mobility, and body function that ends in biological death.

   Cellular aging contributes to the gradual decline in organ function.

   Researchers study how aging damages DNA and weakens the immune system.

   Similarsenescence

   Oppositerejuvenation

   Note

   Gerontology and medicine use the word in a narrower, darker sense than everyday speech. It is not the mere passing of years, nor the ripening of growing older or more mature, but damage that accumulates from molecules up to whole organs. Its close technical synonym is senescence. Phrases such as cellular aging mark this sense, because they name the level at which the damage is traced.

6. 6
   wear and tearnoununcountable

   Gradual wear and damage that builds up in something through use and the passage of time.

   The bridge showed clear signs of aging after decades of heavy traffic.

   Regular maintenance helps reduce the aging of factory equipment.

   Similarwear, deterioration, degradation

Showing meanings only. Show all 6