age
noun
how old sb/sth is
ADJ. early, young He was sent away to school at an early age.| advanced, great, old He was still active even at the advanced age of 87. White hair is a sign of great age. She dreaded old age.| middle a pleasant woman in early middle age| childbearing, pensionable, retirement, school, school-leaving, voting, working children of school age
VERB + AGE attain, get to, live to, reach When you get to my age you get a different perspective on life. She lived to the age of 75.| feel, look She was beginning to feel her age(= feel that she was getting old).| lower, raise The voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 years.
AGE + NOUN group, range | limit
PREP. at a/the ~ At your age, I had already started work.| between the ~s children between the ages of five and eleven| by the ~ He could read by the age of four.| for sb's ~ He's quite a big boy for his age.| over the ~ Twelve million people in Great Britain are over retirement age.| under ~ It is illegal to sell alcohol to children who are under age(= not legally old enough).| under the ~ It is illegal to sell alcohol to children under the age of 18.| with ~ A lot of wines improve with age.| ~ of He left school at the age of 18.
PHRASES the age of consent The general age of consent for sexual activity is 16.| sb's own age She needs a friend of her own age to play with.| years of age He's 20 years of age.
SeeOLD AGE
period of history
ADJ. another, different This exquisite little hotel seemed to belong to a different age.| Elizabethan, Victorian, etc. | Bronze, Ice, Stone | computer, modern, nuclear, etc. | golden the golden age of cinema
PREP. during the ~ He lived during the Elizabethan age.| in a/the ~ In an age when few women became politicians, her career was unusual.| through the ~s an exhibition of spinning through the ages| ~ of the age of the wireless communication
PHRASES in this day and age (= in the period we now live in) Why dress so formally in this day and age?
ages/an age: a very long time
VERB + AGE spend, take It took an age for us all to get on the boat.
PHRASES absolutely ages I've been sitting here for absolutely ages.| ages ago Carlos left ages ago.| for ages We had to wait for ages!
