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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More examplesFewer examples

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 president 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.

More examplesFewer examples

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.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

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 ]

/oʊld/ uk

/əʊld/

the old

old people considered together as a group:

These cuts in services will particularly affect the old.

More examplesFewer examples

The old are particularly vulnerable to these fraudsters.
These vacations 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 | Intermediate English

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

I was still on the train, the tune and this old lady's thought came together.

From NPR

Older eggs have a higher proportion of thin outer white.

From Chicago Daily Herald

All but six are more than 15 years old.

From Los Angeles Times

One day, the young man got into it with one of my older brother's friends.

From The Atlantic

Five years later, he returned again -- at 75 years old -- to set another record.

From ABC News

In rare cases, they may be placed with other students who are two or more years older.

From NPR

What does he make of his own situation as he looks back on his life and looks forward to becoming an old man in prison?

From NPR

He expects to see increased class sizes, older textbooks and fewer course offerings.

From Huffington Post

That old story is starting to get complicated.

From NPR

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