sen-, sene-, seni-, sir-

A secondary school that is typically consisting of the highest grade levels of 10, 11, and 12 or 9, 10, 11, and 12: "She was teaching English classes that consisted of two 11th grade classes and three classes of 10th grade students."

A temporary lapse of memory as a person grows older: "The older couple realized that they were often experiencing senior moments because they couldn't always remember some well-known word or name when they were talking to each other."

"Although Rick Perry, a 65 year old governor of Texas and a Republican candidate for President of the U.S. in 2011, apparently had a senior moment or 'brain freeze' when he stopped in mid-sentence as he struggled to remember the name of the Department of Energy as one of three federal agencies he has often said should be eliminated."

"Perry's senior moment resulted in a pained look on his face as he stammered, started over but still couldn't remember what he wanted to say; so, he changed the subject after a 53 second senior moment."

1. The state or quality of being higher in a position; priority by reason of birth, a superior age: "Because the prince had seniority over his younger brother, the duke, the prince assumed responsibility for drafting the new laws."
2. Priority or precedence in office or service; especially military: "His mother's seniority at the company allowed her to have three weeks annual vacation."
3. Superiority in standing to another of equal rank by reason of earlier entrance into the service, or an earlier date of appointment: "The elderly politician had seniority over the more recently elected representatives."

The period of old age; especially, the debility of advanced age; a rarely used term referring to old age: "Because of the senium of the members of the chess club, the officers were actively recruiting new and younger members."

1. A positive change of vision in old people whereby myopia (distant objects are blurred) is corrected to normal vision: "The doctors were amazed at the senopia of the elderly patient.
2. Improvement in near vision of old people: "At the medical school, several students were interested in doing more research in developing better treatments for the senopias of senior citizens."

1. A Spanish term of address equivalent to "sir" or "Mr.", used alone or capitalized and prefixed to the name of a man: "Señor Valentino was a remarkable dancer of the Spanish tango."
2. Etymology: Spanish, from Old Spanish sennor, from Vulgar Latin senior, "lord", from Latin, senior, "older".

The Italian form of a title or address for a highly respected man or a man of advanced age. It is equivalent to English sir: "The document was addressed to Signor Smith who had lived in Italy for many years."

1. A form of sire, a respectful form of address for a king or lord: "Making a deep bow, the knight apologized to the duke stating, 'Sir, please excuse my muddy armor'."
2. Etymology: from Latin senior, "older" through Old French and it is the source of English, senior.

1. An archaic term showing a respectful form of address for a king or lord: "The squire pledged, 'Sire, I give you my loyalty'."
2. Another archaic reference to a male ancestor or a forefather: "The sire of the present king was a well-known military leader."

Becoming the male parent of an off spring, typically in reference to breeding of exceptional livestock, horses, bulls, etc.: "The famous horse sired several generations of exceptional race horses."

Displaying or showing a disagreeable, irritable, or malevolent disposition: "The customer responded with surliness when the clerk continued to ignore her."

"The surliness of the author, when errors were pointed out in his text, resulted in a delay of the publication of his book."

1. Originally, "sirly, sirlike"; such as, assuming "lordly airs": "The actor entered the room, striking a surly pose for the photographers."
2. Bad-tempered, unfriendly, rude, and somewhat threatening: "The surly, or gruff mannerisms of the waiter resulted in the couple not leaving a tip when they paid for their meal."

"The neighborhood children were afraid of the surly or unfriendly storekeeper."