senile

se·nile

adj \ˈsē-ˌnī(-ə)l also ˈse-\

Definition of SENILE

1

: of, relating to, exhibiting, or characteristic of old age <senile weakness>; especially : exhibiting a loss of cognitive abilities (as memory) associated with old age

2

: approaching the end of a geological cycle of erosion

— se·nile·ly \-ˌnī(-ə)l-lē\ adverb

Examples of SENILE

1. a senile man in his eighties
2. Her mother is becoming senile.
3. Every time I got a government job, I always felt obligated to tell the authorities that I had this mother who had probably been a Communist. It was an annoying piece of baggage. Then eventually she became senile and forgot about politics and actually became very benign. —Larissa MacFarquhar, New Yorker, 10 Dec. 2001
4. There appears to be little common ground between those who see the paintings [Willem de Kooning's late works] in question as a sublime achievement, a late style comparable to the cut-paper masterpieces of the aging Matisse, and those who describe them as the senile doodlings of a once great artist whose reputation is being damaged for the sake of commercial exploitation. —Calvin Tomkins, New Yorker, 10 Feb. 1997
5. Franco himself, during the final months of his life, had become a senile, quaking octogenarian. —John A. Crow, Spain: The Root and the Flower, (1963) 1985

Origin of SENILE

Latin senilis, from sen-, senex old, old man

First Known Use: 1661

Other Medicine Terms

analgesia, angina, diabetes, hepatitis, homeopathy, logorrhea, palliate, pandemic

Rhymes with SENILE

abseil, air mile, bass viol, black bile, Blue Nile, decile, erstwhile, exile, Fair Isle, field trial, gentile, high style, hostile, lifestyle, meanwhile, motile, nail file, New Style, old style, Old Style, on file, profile, redial, reptile, show trial, stockpile, time trial