English adjective: old | |||
1. | old (used especially of persons) having lived for a relatively long time or attained a specific age | ||
Samples | His mother is very old. A ripe old age. How old are you?. | ||
Similar | aged, aged, ageing, aging, ancient, anile, centenarian, darkened, doddering, doddery, elderly, emeritus, gaga, gray, gray-haired, gray-headed, grey, grey-haired, grey-headed, grizzly, hoar, hoary, middle-aged, nonagenarian, octogenarian, of age, older, oldish, over-the-hill, overage, overaged, senescent, senile, senior, sexagenarian, superannuated, venerable, white-haired | ||
See also | experienced, experient, mature, senior | ||
Attribute | age | ||
Antonyms | young, immature | ||
2. | old of long duration; not new | ||
Samples | Old tradition. Old house. Old wine. Old country. Old friendships. Old money. | ||
Similar | age-old, antediluvian, antiquated, antique, antique, archaic, auld, hand-down, hand-me-down, hoary, immemorial, long-ago, longtime, patched, rusty, secondhand, sunset, used, yellow, yellowed | ||
See also | noncurrent, nonmodern, past, stale, worn | ||
Attribute | age | ||
Antonyms | new | ||
3. | old (used for emphasis) very familiar | ||
Samples | Good old boy. Same old story. | ||
Similar | familiar | ||
Antonyms | unfamiliar | ||
4. | old skilled through long experience | ||
Samples | An old offender. The older soldiers. | ||
Synonyms | older | ||
Similar | experienced, experient | ||
Antonyms | inexperienced, inexperient | ||
5. | old belonging to some prior time | ||
Samples | Erstwhile friend. Our former glory. The once capital of the state. Her quondam lover. | ||
Synonyms | erstwhile, former, one-time, onetime, quondam, sometime | ||
Similar | past | ||
Antonyms | future, present | ||
6. | old (used informally especially for emphasis) | ||
Samples | A real honest-to-god live cowboy. Had us a high old time. Went upriver to look at a sure-enough fish wheel. | ||
Synonyms | honest-to-god, honest-to-goodness, sure-enough | ||
Similar | echt, genuine | ||
Antonyms | counterfeit, imitative | ||
7. | Old of a very early stage in development | ||
Samples | Old English is also called Anglo Saxon. Old High German is High German from the middle of the 9th to the end of the 11th century. | ||
Similar | early | ||
Domain category | linguistics | ||
Antonyms | middle, late | ||
8. | old just preceding something else in time or order | ||
Samples | The previous owner. My old house was larger. | ||
Synonyms | previous | ||
Similar | preceding | ||
Antonyms | succeeding | ||
English noun: old | |||
1. | old (time) past times (especially in the phrase `in days of old') | ||
Broader (hypernym) | past, past times, yesteryear | ||