Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Being between 80 and 90 years of age.
  • noun A person between 80 and 90 years of age.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Eighty years of age; also, between eighty and ninety years of age.
  • noun A person eighty or eighty-odd years of age.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A person eighty years, or more, of age.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun One who is between the age of eighty and eighty-nine, inclusive.
  • adjective Being between the age of 80 and 89, inclusive.
  • adjective Of or relating to an octogenarian.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun someone whose age is in the eighties
  • adjective being from 80 to 89 years old

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From French octogénaire, from Latin octōgēnārius, containing eighty, from octōgēnī, eighty each, from octōgintā, eighty : octō, eight; see oktō(u) in Indo-European roots + -gintā, ten times; see dekm̥ in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin octōgēnārius ("containing eighty"); from octōgintī ("eighty") +‎ -an

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Examples

  • According to local press reports, the police detained Mr. Touré, better known to young Senegalese protesters and the press by his stage name, Thiat, for comments he made during a large demonstration over the weekend in which he called the octogenarian Senegalese president, Abdoulaye Wade, a liar and said he was too old to govern.

    NYT > Home Page By J. DAVID GOODMAN 2011

  • I wasn't sure the graying old lady could take it, particularly when a certain octogenarian came rolling to a stop near the mound.

    Fenway a fitting place for memorable night 1999

  • Obama consulted Brzezinski for advice during his campaign, calling the octogenarian Brzezinski “one of our most outstanding scholars and thinkers” and saying that he was “someone I have learned an immense amount from.”

    Post-American Presidency Pamela Geller 2010

  • Obama consulted Brzezinski for advice during his campaign, calling the octogenarian Brzezinski “one of our most outstanding scholars and thinkers” and saying that he was “someone I have learned an immense amount from.”

    Post-American Presidency Pamela Geller 2010

  • Marius on that barricade after the octogenarian was the vision of the young revolution after the apparition of the old.

    Les Miserables 2008

  • Kirby: Her pseudo-marriage to the octogenarian was the worst kind of betrayal of the covenant.

    Too sad to watch? Ann Althouse 2007

  • Her pseudo-marriage to the octogenarian was the worst kind of betrayal of the covenant.

    Too sad to watch? Ann Althouse 2007

  • Her pseudo-marriage to the octogenarian was the worst kind of betrayal of the covenant.

    Too sad to watch? Ann Althouse 2007

  • Yesterday's term was fertile octogenarian, which is defined as:

    Sui Generis--a New York law blog: 2006

  • Yesterday's term was fertile octogenarian, which is defined as:

    Define That Term #71 2006

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