decrepitude
nounUK /dɪˈkɹɛpɪtʃuːd/ · US /dəˈkɹɛpɪˌtuːd/
Etymology From Middle French décrépitude, from Old French, from Latin dēcrepitūdō (“decrepitude”).
1
The state of being decrepit or worn out from age or long use.
- 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.1781, Samuel Johnson, Lives of the Poets:
- 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?1839, Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby:
4 more examples
- 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.1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 5:
- 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.1952, Norman Lewis, Golden Earth:
- 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.1983, James C. H. Shen, “A Round of Calls”, in Robert Myers, editor, The U.S. & Free China: How the U.S. Sold Out Its Ally, Washington, D.C.: Acropolis Books Ltd., →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 107:
- 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.2017 November 16, Jo Ellison, “Help: the gym has turned us into slobs”, in Financial Times:
- Synonyms
- cobwebbiness, decrepitness, hoariness