sen-, sene-, seni-, sir-

Elderly people; especially, those who are retired and living on pensions: Many of the senior citizens in Marian's urban area are active in social and political groups.

A secondary educational facility that typically consists of the highest grade levels of 10, 11, and 12 or 9, 10, 11, and 12: Shirley Jones was teaching English classes at the local senior high school which consisted of two 11th grade classes and three classes of 10th grade students.

A temporary lapse of memory as a person ripens in age: The couple in their golden years 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.

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 while struggling to remember the name of the Department of Energy as one of three federal agencies he had often said should be eliminated.

Perry's senior moment resulted in a pained look on his face as he stammered and started over again but he 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: Susan'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: Mr. Johnson, the elderly politician, had seniority over the more recently elected representatives.

The period of hoary age; especially, the debility of advanced existence; a rarely used term referring to the declining years: 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 the aging whereby myopia (distant objects are blurred) is corrected to normal vision: Dr. Smith and Dr. Swift were amazed at the senopia of the elderly patient.
2. Improvement in near vision of people past their prime: At the medical school, several students, including Mary and Sam, 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 up in years. 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 offspring, typically in reference to breeding of exceptional livestock, horses, bulls, etc.: The famous horse sired several generations of exceptional race horses.

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

The surliness of the author, when errors in his text were pointed out to him, resulted in a delay of the publication of his book.
2. Etymology: from "lordly, majestic", an alteration of Middle English sirly, "lordly, imperious"; from sir; a variant of sire.

1. Bad-tempered, unfriendly, rude, and somewhat threatening: The surly or gruff mannerisms of the waiter resulted in Tom and Sherry not leaving a tip when they paid for their meal.

The neighborhood children were afraid of the surly or unfriendly storekeeper, Mr. Evans.

2. Originally, "sirly", "sirlike"; such as, assuming "lordly airs": Joe, the actor, entered the room, striking a surly pose for the photographers.
3. Etymology: an alteration of Middle English sirly, "lordly, imperious"; formed from sir, "in the sense of lord". © ALL rights are reserved.

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