ager

A1G2E1R1
UK/ˈeɪ.dʒə/US/ˈeɪ.d͡ʒɚ/

noun

One who or that which ages something.

Less commonScrabble 5

Meanings

ager1

nounager (plural agers)

plural agers

  1. One who or that which ages something.
  2. euphemisticOne who is aging; an elderly person.

    When the aging person depends on another, the control of the aged one's life space is placed in the hands of another person who may or may not contribute action energy that is appropriate or acceptable from the standpoint of the ager.

    1965, Richard Hays Williams, Claudine G. Wirths, Lives Through the Years: Styles of Life and Successful Aging, Transaction Publishers, →ISBN, page 165
    2 more examples

    Inappropriate behavior then erupts from the agers involved, disturbing everyone around, including the agers themselves, who often do not understand what is happening and struggle excessively to maintain rigid control of old perceptions and self images.

    2006, Gloria Davenport, Working with Toxic Older Adults: A Guide to Coping with Difficult Elders, Springer Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 143

    This definition of success is located in society's structures and suits society, not the agers. Successful ageing is arguably therefore a socially constructed phenomenon, characterized by lack of “noise,” maintenance of youthful status until death, and a dogged engagement with social structures which appear almost as if designed to discourage the engagement of older people.

    2014, Susan H. McFadden, Mark Brennan, New Directions in the Study of Late Life Religiousness and Spirituality, Routledge, →ISBN, page 62

    Synonyms: geriatric

  3. in compoundsOne who belongs to a particular age or era.

    The Ice Agers of this time invented new tools and technology and produced magnificent art.

    2004, Linda Bailey, Adventures in the Ice Age, Kids Can Press Ltd, →ISBN, page 48
    2 more examples

    "You were just watching people without any period skills faffing about - any Iron Ager would have known that if you cook chicken in the dark, you'll end up with food poisoning. We didn't learn anything about their period at all"

    2008 December 26, Tim Moore, I Believe In Yesterday: My Adventures in Living History, Random House, →ISBN, page 42

    Late Victorian Agers who witnessed cars replace horses, who lived through the dawn of radio and the recent discovery of a new planet named Pluto, joked that the world had come to this, that babies could now be conceived in the clouds.

    2020 September 1, Michael McCarthy, The Hidden Hindenburg: The Untold Story of the Tragedy, the Nazi Secrets, and the Quest to Rule the Skies, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 66

Ager2

nounAger (plural Agers)

plural Agers

  1. informalvideo gamesA fan of the Age of Empires series of real-time strategy video games.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounOne who is aging; an elderly person.

Similar

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ey-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₂óyu
  3. Proto-Indo-European*h₂oywom
  4. Proto-Italic*aiwom
  5. Proto-Italic*aiwotāts
  6. Latinaetātem
  7. Vulgar Latin*aetāticum
  8. Old Frencheage
  9. Middle Englishage
  10. Englishage
  11. Englishager

From age + -er.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

ager. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ager

MLA

“ager.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ager. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ager,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ager.

Source: ager on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.