-tude

(Latin: a suffix; state, quality, condition of)

senectitude (s) (noun), senectitudes (pl)
Elderly, characterized by being advanced in age: Despite the senectitude of Harry's aunt, she was a marvelous pianist and practiced regularly.

Senectitude is for people who can laugh as hard as the seventy-eight-year-old lady who said she realized that she wasn't twenty-one anymore.

She described standing near a curb waiting for a friend to pick her up so they could drive to a restaurant for lunch. A man observing her waiting assumed something might be wrong. He came up to her and asked if there was anything he could do to help.

She told him that there wasn't and said, "I'm just waiting to get picked up."* Then she said, he looked at her as if he couldn't believe what she'd told him and so he replied by saying, "Well, lady, as old as you look, you could be in for quite a wait."

*"Picked up" is slang for waiting to make a casual acquaintance with someone, usually in anticipation of an intimate relationship.
—Compiled from the introduction of
Old Age Is Not for Sissies by Art Linkletter;
Viking Penguin, Inc.; 1988; page 1.
serenitude (s) (noun), serenitudes (pl)
Relaxed; worry free, without disturbance: The nuns in the religious order projected a serenitude which the visitors admired. Some of the visitors tried to emulate this attitude during their retreat.
servitude (s) (noun), servitudes (pl)
1. The unfortunate situation of being a slave: In the United States, servitude was in existence until 1865 when the African people were freed according to the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment.
2. The plight or predicament of being ruled or dominated by someone or something: Richard suffered from his servitude and subjugation to alcoholic beverages, causing him to lose all of his friends and acquaintances.
3. Work imposed as a punishment for a crime: Having been been found guilty and sent to prison, Bradford was forced to do servitude as a hard laborer.
4. A situation in which people were slaves or serfs by being the property of other people; absence of personal freedom: In the times of feudalism, there were many in that span of time who were in servitude as workers for, and to do the wishes, of those who were in power.
Forced labor or submission to a master.
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similitude (s) (noun), similitudes (pl)
That which is closely resembling something else; a duplicate.
solitude (s) (noun), solitudes (pl)
1. The state of being alone, separated from other people, whether considered as a welcome freedom from disturbance or as an unhappy loneliness.
2. A quality of quiet remoteness or seclusion in places from which human activity is generally absent.
3. A remote or uninhabited place.
torpitude (s) (noun), torpitudes (pl)
Insufficient vigor or energy that results in inactivity: Janine is so possessed with torpitude that she is unable to finish her gardening today.
turpitude (s) (noun), turpitudes (pl)
1. A corrupt, depraved, vile, degenerate act, or practice: The various turpitudes that exist in modern societies makes one wonder if we really are civilized.
2. Extreme immorality or wickedness: Because of his acts of corruptions and turpitudes, Gerald was immediately thrown out of his position as mayor of the city.
3. Vile, shameful, or corrupt behavior: Because of his prior conduct in business regarding his turpitudes, Robin had very little chances of finding any kind of profitable employment.
4. Inherent baseness or vileness of principle in the human heart; extreme wickedness: At the end of the novel Roy was reading, the hero in the story killed the villain who was known for his many turpitudes and evil behaviors.
Wickedness and shamefulness.
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vastitude (s) (noun), vastitudes (pl)
1. Immensity and magnitude: James and the other people could not avoid seeing the vastitude of the missionary doctor's love for all humankind.
2. A great expanse or space: Sailing across the Pacific Ocean, Carol noted in her journal her impressions of the vastitude of this ocean.
verisimilitude (s) (noun), verisimilitudes (pl)
1. The appearance of being true or real.
2. Something that only appears to be true or real, e.g., a statement that is not supported by evidence.
vicissitude (s) (noun), vicissitudes (pl)
1. A complete alteration or variation in what happens to someone.
2. An abrupt or unexpected change or shift often met with in one's life, activities, or surroundings.
A complete change in ones fortune or a significant variation in the circumstances.
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Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
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