middle-aged
/'midl'eidʤd/
Definition
- Adjective:
- Being roughly between 45 and 65 years old: Describing a person who is in the middle period of life, typically after young adulthood and before old age.
Usage
- The term middle-aged is used to describe a person's age group. It is a neutral, descriptive term.
- It is typically used attributively (before a noun) or predicatively (after a linking verb like 'be' or 'seem').
- It can sometimes carry connotations beyond simple age, such as stability, responsibility, or a settled lifestyle, but it is not inherently positive or negative.
Examples
- Attributive use (before a noun):
- The company is looking to attract more middle-aged customers.
- He is a middle-aged man with two children.
- Predicative use (after a linking verb):
- My parents are now considered middle-aged.
- She doesn't feel middle-aged, even though she's fifty.
Advanced Usage
- "middle-aged spread": A humorous or euphemistic idiom referring to the tendency to gain weight, especially around the waist, during middle age.
- He started going to the gym to combat the middle-aged spread.
- The concept can be used more broadly or metaphorically to describe something that is no longer new or youthful but not yet old or obsolete.
- That software platform is entering its middle-aged phase; it's stable but lacks innovative features.
Variants and Related Words
- Middle age (noun): The period of life between youth and old age.
- He took up painting in middle age.
- Middle-ager (noun, informal): A person who is middle-aged.
- The event was popular with middle-agers.
Synonyms
- Midlife: Often used in similar contexts, especially in compounds like "midlife crisis."
- In one's prime: Can overlap but often implies peak condition or success, not strictly an age range.
Antonyms
- Young
- Youthful
- Elderly
- Aged
Related Idioms and Phrases
- Midlife crisis: A period of emotional turmoil and drastic change in life, often associated with middle age.
- After buying the sports car, his friends joked he was having a midlife crisis.
Adjective
-
being roughly between 45 and 65 years old
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