septuagenarian
/ˌsɛptəd͡ʒɪˈnɛɹiən/
septuagenarian means of or related to seventysomethings. It carries an Arena rating of 1350, earned across 33 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, septuagenarian ranks #2,262 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #4,887 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #5,369 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #7,954 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words.
septuagenarian is pronounced /ˌsɛptəd͡ʒɪˈnɛɹiən/.
Why “septuagenarian” is a great word
SEPTUAGENARIAN — [Adjective, Noun] A person between seventy and seventy-nine years old, or of or relating to that decade of life. From Latin septuaginta ("seventy") + -enarius ("containing") + English -an (suffix forming adjectives and nouns). First attested in English in the late 18th century. Unlike "sexagenarian," which precisely denotes the preceding decade of the sixties, or the vague generality of "elderly," "septuagenarian" is a term of crisp calibration. It is the specific heft of a memory from fifty summers past, the quiet mastery of a craft pursued for a lifetime, and the deliberate recalibration of ambition from conquest to curation—a word that maps a completed and numbered span, where the footnotes have become the text.
Etymology
From Latin septuagenarius (“containing 70”) + -an (suffix forming adjectives and representative nouns), either directly or via French septuagénaire, from Latin septuagenus (“70 each”) + -arius (“-ary”), from Latin septuāginta (“seven tens, 70”).
adj
- Of or related to seventysomethings.
noun
- Synonym of seventysomething: a person between 70 and 79 years old.e.g.“Mary Moon, she's a vegetarian.
Mary Moon, Mary Moon, Mary Moon.
Mary Moon, who will outlive all the septuagenarians.” — 1994, “New Age Girl”, in A Different Story, performed by Deadeye Dick:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.