age out

verb

To become too old for an activity, program or institution; to become too mature for a behavior.

“When foster kids age out of the system, it is important for the state to provide them with support.”

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Meanings

verbage out (third-person singular simple present ages out, present participle aging out or ageing out, simple past and past participle aged out)

present singular third person ages out · participle present aging out · participle present ageing out · participle past aged out · past aged out

  1. intransitiveTo become too old for an activity, program or institution; to become too mature for a behavior.

    When foster kids age out of the system, it is important for the state to provide them with support.

    2 more examples

    I am aging out of queenship indeed, when even the beggars refuse my bidding.

    1925, Robinson Jeffers, “THE TOWER BEYOND TRAGEDY; II”, in Roan Stallion, Tamar and Other Poems, New York: Horace Liveright, page 62

    But they [movie stars] do seem to be aging out. There's Leonardo DiCaprio at 46, Johnson, at 48 years old, and Brad Pitt, at 57; Tom Cruise, at 58.

    2021 February 9, Christina Newland, “Is Tom Hanks part of a dying breed of genuine movie stars?”, in BBC, archived from the original on 15 Apr 2022
  2. euphemisticintransitivegovernmentTo die or retire.

    The party's chances in the coming election looked grim as a large portion of their voters were going to age out.

Origin

Use of the phrasal verb, with adverb out, is analogous to run out. The phrase was likely spread by the Boy Scouts of America, where it is used largely in sense 1 to refer to turning eighteen and becoming ineligible for the youth program.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Hungarian kiöregedik
  • kiöregedikto become too old for an activity, program or institution
Cite this entry
APA

age out. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/age%20out

MLA

“age out.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/age%20out. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “age out,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/age%20out.

Source: age out on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.