older
- 1Comparative of old.
The redwoods here are older than any other trees in the forest.
She felt older after such a long and difficult year.
Note
The everyday comparative of old, built with the regular -er ending and reaching across all its meanings: an older loaf, an older language, an older brother. It takes than for the point of comparison (older than me) and by for the gap (older by eleven months). The comparison can also go unsaid, as in Wall of Voodoo's "Mexican Radio" (1982), which never says what its world is older than.
- 2Advanced in age; elderly, used as a gentler way of describing an aged person.
The clinic offers free checkups for older patients twice a month.
Several older residents gathered in the community hall for the meeting.
Oppositeyounger
Note
Here the comparative has lost its comparison: an older lady is not older than anyone in particular. Because of that, it cannot be graded further, and nobody is "more older." It also never takes a than-phrase. Once one appears, the meaning slides back to the plain comparative. It sits most naturally before the noun, as in an older lady or older patients.
older is a form of old
old, adjective: Of a person, animal, or other living thing, far along in its expected span of life. Full entry
- Spelling
- old → older: add -er
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