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.

   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/older/younger 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 (paŭnaljétni)
• 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)