Dictionary

senescence en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /səˈnɛ.səns/
• /sɪˈnɛ.səns/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From senescent + -ence.

Meanings

1. (uncountable, usually) The state or process of ageing, especially in humans; old age.
   • Over the next 150 years the known age of the Earth expanded a millionfold and lost worlds of the past were found to have overflowed with species now gone. The chain stretched, aged, and eventually succumbed to senescence. 2012, Lydia Pyne, Stephen J. Pyne, chapter 6, in The Last Lost World, Penguin, →ISBN:
   • Organized shuffleboard has always filled me with dread. Everything about it suggests infirm senescence and death: it’s like it’s a game played on the skin of a void and the rasp of the sliding puck is the sound of that skin getting abraded away bit by bit. 1997, David Foster Wallace, “A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again”, in A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, Kindle edition, Little, Brown Book Group:
2. (uncountable, usually) Ceasing to divide by mitosis because of shortening of telomeres or excessive DNA damage.
   • 2018, University of Edinburgh, "Liver Study Offers Insights into Hard-to-treat Diseases" (9 March 2018), Drug Discovery & Development. Tests in mice found that inducing senescence in bile duct cells - mimicking the process seen in human bile duct disease - led to liver scarring and damage of liver function.
3. (uncountable, usually) Old age; accumulated damage to macromolecules, cells, tissues and organs with the passage of time.
4. (uncountable, usually) Fruit senescence, leading to ripening of fruit.
5. (of a cell, uncountable, usually) Condition when the cell ceases to divide.

Forms

Deriveds

antisenescence · chondrosenescence · neurosenescence · immunosenescence · hypersenescence

Relateds

senility · quiescence · biological immortality · senescent · senesce

Synonyms

chair days · codgerhood · senectitude · senescence · eld · age · geezerdom · senectitude · sunset years · vetustity · superannuation · twilight years · old age · fogeydom · golden years · elderliness · oldhood · vetustity · oldhood

Translations (28)

bg старост (gerontology: old age) · fi kypsyminen (botany: fruit senescence, leading to ripening of fruit) · nl verouderingsproces (biology: the state or process of aging) · cs stáří (gerontology: old age) · fa پیری (gerontology: old age) · bg стареене (biology: the state or process of aging) · pt senectude (biology: the state or process of aging) · ru старе́ние (biology: the state or process of aging) · fi vanheneminen (cell biology: ceasing to divide by mitosis) · it senescenza (biology: the state or process of aging) · fa پیری (biology: the state or process of aging) · bg остаряване (biology: the state or process of aging) · cy heneiddiad (biology: the state or process of aging) · el γηρασμός (biology: the state or process of aging) · fi vanheneminen (biology: the state or process of aging) · id senesens (gerontology: old age) · es senescencia (biology: the state or process of aging) · cs stárnutí (biology: the state or process of aging) · pt senescência (biology: the state or process of aging) · ota كبر (gerontology: old age) · el γήρας (biology: the state or process of aging) · it senescenza (gerontology: old age) · el γήρας (gerontology: old age) · fi vanhuus (gerontology: old age) · el γηρασμός (cell biology: ceasing to divide by mitosis) · pl starzenie się (biology: the state or process of aging) · es senectud (biology: the state or process of aging) · de Alterungsprozess (biology: the state or process of aging)