Meanings
- uncountableWorship of old people.
In which senses was Spartan society gerontocratic and gerontocentric? What were the roots and the symbols and what was the extent of gerontocracy and gerontolatry at Sparta?
1991, Ephraim David, Old Age in Sparta, page 12 more examples
Gerontolatry, an inevitable development of the many movements afoot to make the world safe for the old folks, has had a fine fling this goodwill season, and old folks' engagement-books, to say nothing of the old folks, have been full to bursting.
1957, Mark Lemon, Henry Mayhew, Tom Taylor, Shirley Brooks, Sir Francis Cowley Burnand, Sir Owen Seaman, Punch, Volume 232, page 49Because Russian literature is an integral part of European literature, it shares the latter's prejudices and displays a full spectrum of those commonplaces involving old age that are so familiar in the West; certainly there is none of the gerontolatry that is a notable feature of Far Eastern, especially Chinese, culture.
1989, Perceptions of Aging in Literature: A Cross-cultural Study, page 87
Origin
Cite this entry
gerontolatry. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gerontolatry
“gerontolatry.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gerontolatry. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “gerontolatry,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gerontolatry.
Source: gerontolatry on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.