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.

2. (formal, idiomatic, law, usually literary) Having existed for a certain period of time; used in referring to a person's age.

   He has a son who is six years of age.

   One must be 18 years of age to be an eligible voter in most countries.

   Once one is of age 16, one's horizons broaden; once on is of age 21 one's horizons are limitless.

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

• come of age

Translations

old enough to be considered an adult

• Arabic: راشِد (ar) (rāšid)
• Belarusian: паўнале́тні (pawnaljétni)
• Catalan: major d'edat (ca) m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 成年的 (zh) (chéngnián de), 成年人 (zh) (chéngniánrén), 成年者 (zh) (chéngniánzhě)

• Czech: plnoletý (cs)
• Danish: myndig
• Dutch: meerderjarig (nl), volwassen (nl)
• Finnish: täysi-ikäinen (fi)
• French: majeur (fr)
• Georgian: სრულწლოვანი (srulc̣lovani), ზრდასრული (zrdasruli), მოწიფული (moc̣ipuli)
• German: volljährig (de), mündig (de)
• Hungarian: nagykorú (hu)
• Ingrian: täysiälliin
• Italian: maggiorenne (it)
• Japanese: 成年者 (ja) (せいねんしゃ, seinensha)
• Norwegian: myndig
• Polish: pełnoletni (pl)
• Portuguese: maior (pt)
• Russian: совершенноле́тний (ru) (soveršennolétnij)
• Spanish: mayor de edad
• Swedish: myndig (sv)
• Ukrainian: повнолі́тній (povnolítnij)

References

• “of age”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.