1
as in adult
a person of advanced years
in that Asian society elders are accorded great respect
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2
3
as in ancestor
one who is older than another
it wouldn't hurt to show a little more respect for your elders
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4
as in dean
the senior member of a group
as the elder of the contingent of living former presidents, he was accorded a place of highest honor at the ceremonies
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Recent Examples of elder
As part of that effort to honor and sustain the language, Teran, along with a class of seventh-grade students at the Fort Washakie School in Wyoming and tribal elders, collaborated to come up with a scientific name for the amphibian: Ninumbeehan dookoodukah.
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Eli Wizevich, Smithsonian Magazine, 11 Dec. 2024
Protect the Sacred Protect the Sacred educates and empowers the next generation of Native leaders and allies to use transformative storytelling and community building to strengthen Indigenous sovereignty and protect Indigenous elders, languages, and medicine ways.
—Justin Kroll, Deadline, 9 Dec. 2024
After securing funding from the Aspen Institute and the Yale School of Medicine, Gupta traveled to Mackinac Island this past summer to film and record stories from tribal elders, capturing 3D spatial video on her phone, then recording the audio stories to accompany it.
—Iris Kim, NBC News, 29 Nov. 2024
Reba Teran was one of the Eastern Shoshone elders who came along.
—Eli Wizevich, Smithsonian Magazine, 11 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for elder 
Eli Wizevich, Smithsonian Magazine, 11 Dec. 2024
Protect the Sacred Protect the Sacred educates and empowers the next generation of Native leaders and allies to use transformative storytelling and community building to strengthen Indigenous sovereignty and protect Indigenous elders, languages, and medicine ways.
—Justin Kroll, Deadline, 9 Dec. 2024
After securing funding from the Aspen Institute and the Yale School of Medicine, Gupta traveled to Mackinac Island this past summer to film and record stories from tribal elders, capturing 3D spatial video on her phone, then recording the audio stories to accompany it.
—Iris Kim, NBC News, 29 Nov. 2024
Reba Teran was one of the Eastern Shoshone elders who came along.
—Eli Wizevich, Smithsonian Magazine, 11 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for elder
Recent Examples of Synonyms for elder
Noun
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Both studies monitored obese adults with moderate to severe sleep apnea over a 52-week period.Charna Flam, People.com, 25 Dec. 2024
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Perhaps the most striking comes from the Baltimore Experience Corps trial, a large experiment in which adults age 60 and older were randomly assigned to either volunteer at elementary schools or be put on a waiting list.Maria Godoy, NPR, 25 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Even when those circumstances existed, agents had to get approval from superiors in order to plan an arrest in a sensitive location.Julia Ainsley, NBC News, 11 Dec. 2024
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Your actions and interactions at these gatherings can have a significant impact on how you're perceived by colleagues and superiors alike.Jack Kelly, Forbes, 6 Dec. 2024
Noun
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In another ironic twist, Kayce sells it for the ridiculously low price of $1.25 an acre, the original price his ancestors paid.Ana Rocío Álvarez Bríñez, The Indianapolis Star, 18 Dec. 2024
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This is all mirrored by wordless sequences depicting the Simpson family’s prehistoric ancestors, rendered in an entirely different animation style that calls to mind cave etchings, as well as primordial Simpsons designs.Jesse David Fox, Vulture, 17 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Allegation #3: Former Penn admissions dean airs frustrations Monday’s court filing also says the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League school in Philadelphia, gave the children of donors preferential treatment.Zachary Schermele, USA TODAY, 18 Dec. 2024
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Instead, CEOs and deans are letting right-wing activists bully them into junking the whole project.The Week UK, theweek, 15 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Folks back in the day had Yoda as their feisty oldster and the kids now have Maz. 36.Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 24 May 2023
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The Duke is the true tale of an eccentric oldster who, in 1961, stole a Francisco Goya painting of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London.Dallas News, Dallas News, 28 Apr. 2022
Noun
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Its themes and plots were often pitch-dark and inhabited by hypnotists, somnambulists, mediums, spies, the devil himself, serial killers, and crime bosses.Elle Carroll, Vulture, 24 Dec. 2024
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Sibley’s former boss, then-inspector general Mark Smith, left in April after being named as an independent monitor to oversee police reforms in Portland, Ore.Libor Jany, Los Angeles Times, 24 Dec. 2024
Noun
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The independent retailer, which was started a decade ago by men’s marketing veteran Paul C. Witt, has two new locations — one of which marks its debut foray into womenswear — and a private label on the way.Marissa Muller, WWD, 16 Dec. 2024
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The Denver Broncos’ veteran wide receiver, about an hour after his team moved to the doorstep of the playoffs with a 31-13 victory over the Indianapolis Colts, was asked to imagine the game’s defining play in an alternate universe.Nick Kosmider, The Athletic, 16 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Heimann avoided cardigans with fusty suede elbow patches or hefty yarn that can invoke infirm geriatrics.Valli Herman, Los Angeles Times, 17 Dec. 2024
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Something similar happened at the other end of the age spectrum—a geriatric rumble.Daniel Immerwahr, The New Yorker, 25 Nov. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Elder.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/elder. Accessed 31 Dec. 2024.
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