Meaning of old in English

An adult under British law is someone over 18 years old.
Most children in the UK remain in full-time education until they are at least 16 years old.
How old is his daughter?
The trial was held in camera because the accused was only 14 years old.
He asked me how old I was and, lying through my teeth, I said '29'.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Describing age & birthdays

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old adjective (FROM THE PAST)

A2 [ before noun ]

from a period in the past:

I saw my old English teacher last time I went home.

He bought me a new phone to replace my old one.

She showed me her old school.

I saw an old boyfriend of mine.

In my old job I had less responsibility.

Synonym

former

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

coming from a time in the past

oldBe careful - that clock is very old.
formerHe's a former coworker of mine.
ancientWe need to protect ancient monuments.
archaic"Thee" is an archaic word for "you".

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After six months of chopping and changing, we've decided to go back to our old system.
Just by coincidence, I met my old school-mate again 50 years later.
It will only complicate the situation if we invite his old girlfriend as well.
The new Prime Minister is cultivating relationships with old Eastern Bloc countries.
The new house is not dissimilar to our old one except that it's a bit bigger.

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In the past

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old adjective (LANGUAGE)

Old English, French, etc.

a language when it was in an early stage in its development:

Both words come to us from Old English.

old adjective (VERY FAMILIAR)

A2 [ before noun ]

(especially of a friend) known for a long time:

She's one of my oldest friends - we met in kindergarten.

[ before noun ] informal

used before someone's name when you are referring to or talking to them, to show that you know that person well and like them:

There's old Sara working away in the corner.

I hear poor old Frank's lost his job.

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Dashed decent of you, old boy!
They did a few old hits as/for an encore.
"I can't eat this meat - it's too tough." "You old fusspot - give it here and I'll eat it!"
He's a miserable old git.
He's an insipid old bore.

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Lasting for a long time

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Relationships: general words

Grammar

Elder, eldest or older, oldest?

Elder and eldest mean the same as older and oldest. We only use the adjectives elder and eldest before a noun (as attributive adjectives), and usually when talking about relationships within a family: …

Idioms

be (as) old as the hills
for old times' sake
of old
of the old school
the oldest profession (in the world)
the oldest trick in the book

old

noun [ plural ]

/əʊld/ us

/oʊld/

the old

old people considered together as a group:

These cuts in services will particularly affect the old.

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The old are particularly vulnerable to these fraudsters.
These holidays are aimed at the old.
The old tend to have a different perspective on war.

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The elderly

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(Definition of old from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

old | American Dictionary

old

adjective [ -er/-est only ]

/oʊld/

old adjective [-er/-est only] (EXISTING A LONG TIME)

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having lived or existed for a long time in comparison to others of the same kind:

An old man lives there with his dog.

They have a beautiful old farm house in the country.

She got very depressed in her old age (= the time of her life when she was old).

old adjective [-er/-est only] (KNOWN A LONG TIME)

(esp. of a friend) known for a long time:

She’s one of my oldest friends.

infml Old is also used to show that you know and like someone:

Poor old Frank broke his arm.

old adjective [-er/-est only] (AGE)

having a particular age, or an age suited to a particular activity or condition:

a 14-year-old

Charlie is older than I.

You’re old enough to know better.

old adjective [-er/-est only] (PREVIOUS)

from a previous time or a period in the past; former :

Our old house in Lakewood burned down.

Sharon gave her old skates to her younger cousin.

(Definition of old from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of old

old

Meanwhile, the state granted tracts of land to nobles or permitted them to purchase land in what had become the old borderlands.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

It is based on a one-year qualitative research project, which seeks to explore the experiences of social dance for older dancers.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Specifically, the younger children might be expected to show greater phonetic sensitivity to the input than older children.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Any categorisation of chronological age obscures the physiological, psychological and social diversity of older people.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The unsatisfactory housing of these older people can be expected to have consequences for their physical and psychological well-being.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Psychological distress among older primary care attenders is associated with frequent attendance.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

A group of 27 older adults in inpatient rehabilitation were interviewed during the programme and after returning home.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Science advances by replacing old theories with new ones that make better predictions.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

This does seem to be a somewhat anthropocentric viewpoint and one, moreover, that effectively replaces the old culture/nature dualism with a human/non-human dualism.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Some fences have been replaced and moved compared to older maps, but it is still quite easy to recognize the localities from former studies.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Perhaps only older children understand indirect requests as observers.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

This new policy contrasts clearly with the party's old policy, which rarely reflected the interests of consumers.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Over the past five years older children have become unruly.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

That older actresses play fewer roles than older men is perhaps not surprising.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Training should be multidisciplinary and multi-agency and involve older people and carers to develop a shared understanding of roles and needs.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

What is the pronunciation of old?

A1,A1,A2,A2