INDEX:
1. how long someone has lived or something has existed
2. ways of saying how old someone is
3. to be almost a particular age
4. ways of saying how old a building, car, machine etc is
5. to be the same age as someone or something else
6. people who are the same age
RELATED WORDS
see also
↑ YOUNG
↑ OLD
↑ ADULT (2)
↑ BABY
↑ MODERN
↑ OLD-FASHIONED
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1. how long someone has lived or something has existed
▷ age /eɪdʒ/ [countable/uncountable noun]
the number of years that someone has lived or something has existed :
the age of somebody/something
▪ The average age of the students here is eighteen.
▪ The amount you pay for license tags and registration depends on the age of the vehicle.
somebody’s age
▪ I tried to guess her age but couldn’t.
▪ Their children’s ages range from twelve to seventeen.
be somebody’s age
be the same age as someone
▪ When I was your age I was already working.
of my age/her age etc
about the same age as me, her etc
▪ I’m surprised someone of your age didn’t know that.
at the age of 10/20 etc
written use this to say how old someone was when something happened
▪ Dewhurst died at the age of seventy-three.
over/under the age of
older or younger than
▪ Anyone over the age of fourteen has to pay the full fare.
be small/tall etc for your age
be small, tall etc compared with other people of the same age
▪ Jimmy’s very tall for his age.
▪ She’s in her seventies, but very fit for her age.
▷ how old /haʊ ˈəʊld/ [adjective phrase]
use this to ask or talk about the age of a person or thing :
▪ How old is Paul?
▪ I’m not sure how old the cat is -- three or four, I suppose.
2. ways of saying how old someone is
▷ be 5/10/35 etc /biː ˈfaɪv/ [verb phrase]
▪ Julie’s going to be thirty next month.
▪ When I was eighteen, I thought I knew everything.
▪ Luke is three and Marie is seven.
▷ be 5/10/35 etc years old /biː ˌfaɪv jɪəʳz ˈəʊld/ [verb phrase]
▪ Simone is nearly fifteen years old.
▪ My sister got married when she was thirty-eight years old.
▷ be 5/10/35 etc years of age /biː ˌfaɪv jɪəʳz əv ˈeɪdʒ/ [verb phrase] formal :
▪ He was tall, well-dressed and appeared to be about thirty-five years of age.
▪ Elephants do not become sexually active until they are fifteen to eighteen years of age.
▷ aged 5/10/35 etc /eɪdʒd ˈfaɪv/ [adjective phrase]
used especially in written descriptions :
▪ The child, aged ten, was last seen in a park on Bishop Street.
▪ A recent survey of youths aged thirteen to eighteen shows that twelve percent are smoking regularly.
▪ Females aged eighteen to thirty-four have an increased risk of contracting the disease.
▷ 5-year-old/10-year-old etc /ˈfaɪv jɪər ˌəʊld/ [adjective only before noun] aged 5/10/35 etc
used especially in written descriptions :
▪ His ninety-five-year-old great-grandfather still rides his bike every day.
▪ She has to pick up her twelve-year-old son from school at 3:30.
▪ Twenty-one-year-old Elizabeth Parker will be the soloist in tonight’s concert.
5/10/35-year-old [countable noun]
▪ The competition was won by a seventeen-year-old from Vestavia High School.
▷ of 5/10/35 etc /əv ˈfaɪv/ [adjective phrase]
use this especially to say what someone who is a particular age can do :
▪ If a man of fifty-five loses his job, he’ll never get another.
▪ It’s so simple, a child of four could use it.
▷ in your teens/20s/thirties/40s etc /ɪn jɔːʳ ˈtiːnz/
use this to give a general idea of how old someone is :
▪ He was tall, with brown hair and dark eyes - I’d say he was in his forties.
early twenties/30s etc
▪ In my early twenties, I applied for my first job as a teacher.
mid-twenties/30s etc
▪ She’s retired, but she’s only in her mid-50s.
late twenties/30s etc
▪ A lot of women in their late twenties start thinking about having a family.
▷ have turned 20/30 etc /həv ˌtɜːʳnd ˈtwenti/ [verb phrase]
to have recently become 20, 30 etc :
▪ McClelland recently turned forty.
▷ twenty-/thirty-/forty-something /ˈtwenti ˌsʌmθɪŋ/ [adjective only before noun] informal
between the ages of 20 and 29, 30 and 39 etc :
▪ a forty-something couple from Orlando
3. to be almost a particular age
▷ be getting on for /biː ˌgetɪŋ ˈɒn fɔːʳ/ [verb phrase] British
used to say that someone is nearly a particular age :
▪ Old Willis must be getting on for sixty-five.
▪ The Queen was getting on for eighty and only the elderly could remember her coronation.
▷ be pushing /biː ˈpʊʃɪŋ/ [verb phrase]
be pushing 40/50/65 etc
to be almost a particular age, especially when this is quite old or be doing a particular activity :
▪ When you’re pushing seventy it’s not surprising when you start forgetting things.
▪ What astonishes me is the ease with which this man, pushing seventy-five, can play his trumpet for hours at a time.
4. ways of saying how old a building, car, machine etc is
▷ be 5/50/100 etc years old /biː ˌfaɪv jɪəʳz ˈəʊld/ [verb phrase]
▪ Their home is over 100 years old.
▪ The fossils are over 100 million years old.
▪ The pyramids were already 2000 years old when the Greek historian Herodotus visited them.
▷ 5-year-old/100-year-old etc /ˈfaɪv jɪər ˌəʊld/ [adjective phrase only before noun]
used especially in written descriptions :
▪ A 500-year-old church in Leipzig is being threatened with demolition.
▪ a 1500-year-old Latin manuscript
5. to be the same age as someone or something else
▷ the same age /ðə ˌseɪm ˈeɪdʒ/ [noun phrase]
be the same age
▪ Cliff and Jeremy are the same age.
be the same age as
▪ Cleo is the same age as me.
of the same age
the same age as each other
▪ Blood samples were taken from a group of patients of the same age.
6. people who are the same age
▷ generation /ˌdʒenəˈreɪʃ ə n/ [countable noun usually singular]
all the people in a society who are about the same age :
somebody’s generation
▪ People of his generation often have a hard time with computers.
▪ Many people consider her among the best writers of her generation.
generation-gap
large differences in attitude between different generations
▪ There’s still a pretty wide generation-gap in German society.
▷ age group /ˈeɪdʒ gruːp/ [countable noun]
all the people who are between two particular ages, considered as a group :
▪ Pregnant women in the 40-45 age group are more likely to suffer complications.
▪ The vacations are designed for the 20-30 age group.
▷ the under-5s/11s/25s etc /ði ˌʌndəʳ ˈfaɪvz/ [plural noun] British
a group of people, especially children or young people, who are all below a certain age - used especially in education or sport :
▪ Sally teaches the under-5s.
▪ He is one of the best of the under-18s in his football club.
▷ the over-30s/40s/50s etc /ði ˌəʊvəʳ ˈθɜːʳtiz/ [plural noun] British
a group of people, but not usually children or young people, who are all above a certain age - used especially to talk about groups of middle-aged or old people :
▪ Many agencies provide special vacations for the over-50s.
▪ The tennis club has a section for the over-40s.
▷ twenty-/thirty-/forty-something /ˈtwenti ˌsʌmθɪŋ/ [countable noun] informal
someone between the ages of 20 and 29, 30 and 39 etc :
▪ Howard’s book is an entertaining book filled with tips on money management for twenty- and 30-somethings.
▪ The show is about a group of twenty-somethings living in New York City.
▷ peer group/peers /ˈpɪəʳ gruːp, pɪəʳz/ []
a group of people who are the same age, especially children or young people - use this to talk about how people of the same age influence and relate to each other :
▪ By the age of about 10, children will be much more interested in the approval of their peer group than that of their parents or teachers.
▪ She learned to read late, and by the age of 13 was way behind her peers in almost every aspect of school work.
peer group pressure
the strong influence of a peer group
▪ Kids should be taught to resist peer group pressure to become sexually active too early.