as in elderly
showing a loss of mental ability (such as memory) in old age
a senile man in his eighties Her mother is becoming senile.
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Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of senile
Don Quixote himself is too often a senile dodderer; Daniel Rubin was creaky in body but youthfully quixotic in spirit.
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Jeffrey Gantz, BostonGlobe.com, 17 Mar. 2023
But Benjamin Smith, a professor of Latin American history at the University of Warwick in Britain, said the tweet could further fuel ongoing rumors that López Obrador, 69, is senile or otherwise unfit to govern.
—Bryan Pietsch, Washington Post, 25 Feb. 2023
In the Kremlin’s propaganda, Biden is now invariably portrayed as senile, sleepy and out of touch.
—David E. Sanger, BostonGlobe.com, 20 Feb. 2023
Trump regularly claimed during the 2020 campaign that Biden was senile.
—Dallas News, 9 Feb. 2022
See all Example Sentences for senile 
Jeffrey Gantz, BostonGlobe.com, 17 Mar. 2023
But Benjamin Smith, a professor of Latin American history at the University of Warwick in Britain, said the tweet could further fuel ongoing rumors that López Obrador, 69, is senile or otherwise unfit to govern.
—Bryan Pietsch, Washington Post, 25 Feb. 2023
In the Kremlin’s propaganda, Biden is now invariably portrayed as senile, sleepy and out of touch.
—David E. Sanger, BostonGlobe.com, 20 Feb. 2023
Trump regularly claimed during the 2020 campaign that Biden was senile.
—Dallas News, 9 Feb. 2022
See all Example Sentences for senile
Recent Examples of Synonyms for senile
Adjective
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The crowd applauds uproariously when Kevin’s elderly neighbor shows up at the end to hit them in the head with a shovel.Erin Somers, Vulture, 19 Dec. 2024
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Three low-flyers wing an elderly man in the face and don’t miss a flap, his Ray Bans go flying.Jonathan Rowe, SPIN, 18 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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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
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The show skips across the decades, dramatizing the interviews an older Dolours (Maxine Peake) did for a Boston College oral history of the Troubles, which were taped with the promise that they would be released only after participants’ deaths.Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 19 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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The front-runner in the race for top Republican on the panel appears to be Foxx, the outgoing chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and a senior member of the House Republican conference.Emily Brooks, The Hill, 16 Dec. 2024
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Han faced strong backlash from his own party for openly supporting impeachment without consulting senior members of the party enough ahead of his announcement last week.Hakyung Kate Lee, ABC News, 16 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near senile
Cite this Entry
“Senile.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/senile. Accessed 30 Dec. 2024.
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