of age

English

Prepositional phrase

of age

  1. Old enough to be considered an adult (in law, or by society generally).
    Antonym: under age
    He's of age now: he can make his own decisions.
    Once one is of age 16, one's horizons broaden; once on is of age 21 one's horizons are limitless.
  2. (formal, idiomatic, law, usually literary) Having existed for a certain period of time; used in referring to a person's age.
    One must be 18 years (of age) to be an eligible voter in most countries.

Usage notes

  • In the given senses above, of age almost always and usually has the following before the age being referred to:
    about; above; after; almost; around; as early/late/old/young as; at (just/least/only); attain, be, reach, and their conjugated derivatives; before; below; between or from... to... (in age ranges); beyond; by; from; just; less/younger than; more/older than; now; only; over; then; through/thru; till; under; and until.
  • Also, of age is followed by either "and below/younger" or "and above/older/over/up."

Derived terms

Translations

References

  • “of age”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.