senile

1660s; borrowed from French sénile, from Middle French senile, from Old French senile, from Latin senīlis (“of or pertaining to old age”), from senex (“old man”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sénos (“old”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsiːnaɪl/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsinaɪl/
• Rhymes: -aɪl

senile (comparative more senile, superlative most senile)

1. Of, or relating to old age.
   • 2013 May-June, Charles T. Ambrose, “Alzheimer’s Disease”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 200:

     Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems— […]. Such a slow-release device containing angiogenic factors could be placed on the pia mater covering the cerebral cortex and tested in persons with senile dementia in long term studies.

2. (often offensive) Exhibiting the deterioration in mind and body often accompanying old age; doddering.
   • 2019, Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys, Fleet, page 183:

     Her mother was senile, but they called it dementia now.

• juvenile

• senate
• senator
• senescence
• senior
• seniority

senile (plural seniles)

1. (dated, medicine) A person who is senile.
   • 1979, Oscar J. Kaplan, Psychopathology of Aging, page 54:

     Seniles differ markedly in their early adult intelligence level, and in their social, vocational, and educational histories.

• “senile”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “senile”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

• Inslee, enisle, ensile, lienes, silene

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senile

1. inflection of senil:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

From Latin senīlis.

• IPA^(key): /seˈni.le/
• Rhymes: -ile
• Hyphenation: se‧nì‧le

senile (plural senili)

1. senile

• senilità
• senilmente

• lesine

senīle

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of senīlis

From Latin senīlis.

senile m (oblique and nominative feminine singular senile)

1. relating to old age

• French: sénile
  • → English: senile

senile

1. definite natural masculine singular of senil