Old - definition, pronunciation, transcription
Amer.
|əʊld|
Brit.
|əʊld|
noun
- past times (especially in the phrase `in days of old')
adjective ↓
- (used for emphasis) very familiar
- skilled through long experience (syn: older)
- belonging to some prior time (syn: erstwhile, former, one- time, onetime, quondam, sometime)
- very good (syn: bang- up, bully, corking, cracking, dandy, great, keen, neat, nifty, peachy, slap- up, smashing, swell)
- of a very early stage in development
- just preceding something else in time or order (syn: previous)
- skilled through long experience (syn: older)
- belonging to some prior time (syn: erstwhile, former, one- time, onetime, quondam, sometime)
- very good (syn: bang- up, bully, corking, cracking, dandy, great, keen, neat, nifty, peachy, slap- up, smashing, swell)
- of a very early stage in development
- just preceding something else in time or order (syn: previous)
Examples
He's an old man now.
We rented an old black-and-white movie.
There's an old saying that good fences make good neighbors.
A new approach to an old problem
She wore a T-shirt and an old pair of jeans.
I wish you would stop wearing that dirty old hat!
The hotel was old and dingy.
The oldest known civilization in the region
The house we live in is 50 years old.
We went back to visit our old neighborhood.
Young and old alike will enjoy the movie.
Some of the houses around here are very old.
The car's getting old now, and things are starting to go wrong with it.
That story's as old as the hills (=extremely old).
I can't run around like I used to - I must be getting old.
Word forms
adjective
comparative: older
superlative: oldest
comparative: older
superlative: oldest