different between tottering vs senile

English

Verb

tottering

1. present participle of totter

Adjective

tottering (comparative more tottering, superlative most tottering)

1. Unsteady, precarious or rickety.
2. Unstable, insecure or wobbly.

Translations

Noun

tottering (plural totterings)

1. The movement of one who totters.
   • 1918, George Moore, A Storyteller's Holiday

     Its faint descent tried the powers of the horse to keep back the car, and so feeble were his totterings that I began to fear we should miss the train […]

Synonyms

• (not held or fixed securely and likely to fall over): precarious, rickety, shaky, unsteady, unsafe, unstable, wobbly

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French senile, from Latin sen?lis (“of or pertaining to old age”), from senex (“old man”), from Gaulish and Proto-Indo-European *sénos (“old”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?si?na?l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?sina?l/
• Rhymes: -a?l

Adjective

senile (comparative more senile, superlative most senile)

1. Of, or relating to old age.
2. (often offensive) Exhibiting the deterioration in mind and body often accompanying old age; doddering.

Antonyms

• juvenile

Derived terms

Related terms

• senate
• senator
• senescence
• senility
• senior
• seniority

Translations

Noun

senile (plural seniles)

1. (dated, medicine) A person who is senile.

Further reading

• senile in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• senile in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Inslee, enisle, ensile, lienes, silene

German

Pronunciation

Adjective

senile

1. inflection of senil:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Etymology

From Latin sen?lis.

Adjective

senile (plural senili)

1. senile

Related terms

• senilità

Anagrams

• lesine

Latin

Adjective

sen?le

1. nominative neuter singular of sen?lis
2. accusative neuter singular of sen?lis
3. vocative neuter singular of sen?lis

Old French

Etymology

From Latin sen?lis

Adjective

senile m (oblique and nominative feminine singular senile)

1. relating to old age

Declension

Descendants

• ? English: senile
• French: sénile