decrepitude — English Dictionary

Noun

1. The state of being decrepit or worn out from age or long use.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Synonyms

   cobwebbinessdecrepitnesshoariness

   Examples

   There prevailed in his time an opinion, that the world was in its decay, and that we have had the misfortune to be produced in the decrepitude of nature.

   More examples (3)

   This was the probable destination of his sister Kate. His uncle had deceived him, and might he not consign her to some miserable place where her youth and beauty would prove a far greater curse than ugliness and decrepitude?

   Being a trifle precipitate in his entry, he trod on a bottle, and was instantly extinguished by a Japanese screen, which appeared to collapse on him out of pure decrepitude.

   We were encircled by a ghostly decrepitude, roads that led to nowhere, canals holding pools of brilliant, stinking water, a few nat-haunted banyan trees, grotesque with old muscled trunks and bearded roots.

   He recalled that when he accompanied Nixon to Peking in February, 1972, he had been struck by Mao's decrepitude and Chou's failing health.

   More examples (1)

   Having slapped into middle age, where thoughts of one’s general infallibility are tempered by the realisation that those creaky, achy complaints are signs of certain decrepitude, I have decided to ward against further gravitational decline by hauling my saggy, sorry self to the gym.

Noun

1. a state of deterioration due to old age or long use

   Synonyms

   dilapidation

   Broader terms

   deteriorationimpairment

2. The quality or state of being wasted and weakened by or as if by the infirmities of old age.

   Broader terms

   old ageyearsageeldgeezerhood

   Examples

   He is obscurely pleased by this discovery of his decrepitude, and is indulging what he fancies to be a prerogative of old age by talking to himself in public.