Too Many Repetitions of Old in Your WIP?

Does your work in progress feature an elderly character? This post provides hundreds of ways to replace old when used to describe a person.

Most of the words and phrases refer to the stereotypical oldster who isn’t pleased about the aging process.

Emotion Beats and Physical Manifestations

Some older people might experience sadness over a bucket list never completed, or anxiety about waning physical prowess and health. This could result in frustration and anger. Loneliness could lead to depression, as could the realization that one’s mental faculties are not as acute as they used to be.

The early stages of dementia might cause fear. A knowledgeable oldster might initially blame lapses in memory on a busy schedule, stress, or lack of sleep. Eventually, however, the realization might result in insomnia, irritability, and efforts to hide the developing condition from family and friends.

Modern seniors are more likely to accept aging with an upbeat attitude than would seniors in decades gone by when there were fewer options for dealing with conditions such as arthritis, osteoporosis, and hormone changes. Consider Dick Van Dyke, who in his nineties has a workout routine that would be difficult for some people half his age.

Remember this as you write, and provide details appropriate to the period in which your story is based.

Adjectives and Adjectival Phrases

Some of the words in the following list might surprise you. An obsolete character? Sure. If you describe a male protagonist as so ancient he’s obsolete, readers will conjure a different mental image than they would with a simple characterization of old.

Some adjectives such as antique and senior can double as nouns.

A to E
advanced in years, aged, aging, along in years, ancient, anile, antediluvian, antiquated, antique, archaic, barnacled, broken-down, crotchety, crumbling, crusty, decaying, decomposing, decrepit, deteriorating, doddering, doddery, elderly

F to P
festering, fossilized, full of years, fusty, geriatric, getting on in years, gnarled, grizzled, hoary, horse-and-buggy, long-lived, mature, moldering, moldy, obsolescent, obsolete, past one’s prime, pensioned-off, prehistoric, primordial, putrefying

R to W
retired, rickety, seasoned, senescent, senile, senior, stale, timeworn, tottering, unsteady, unyoung, venerable, vintage, weather-beaten, weathered, wizened, wobbly, worn-out, wrinkled

Similes and Metaphors

Here’s where your writing can shine, as long as you avoid purple prose. If you create a memorable phrase, use it only once. Rather than copy any of the following, leverage them as creativity springboards.

• beyond the age of remembering what good [______] [felt, looked, tasted] like
• born before [the Bronze Age, dinosaurs roamed the Earth, King Tut, the wheel was invented]
• bowed by one’s years like a tree buffeted by coastal winds
• death pushing a walker toward the cemetery
• decaying faster than the compost heap in the backyard
• enveloped by one’s years in a mantle of wisdom
• gnarled by time into a gargoyle husk
• like an elastic that has lost its spring
• like a blind hound tripping over one’s own feet
• like a black-and-white movie with gravelly audio
• more wrinkled than a shriveling winter apple
• timeworn as one’s overworked excuses
• walking death, with mummified skin and rheumy eyes

Colors

The colors used most often to describe old people’s beards, eyebrows, and hair are shades of grey/gray such as the following.

A to I
alien grey, aluminum grey, anchor grey, ash grey, battleship grey, bottle grey, boulder grey, carbon grey, cement grey, charcoal grey, cloud grey, coin grey, corpse grey, crater grey, death grey, dove grey, elephant grey, exhaust grey, fling grey, flint grey, fog grey, fossil grey, fungus grey, ginger grey, granite grey, graphite, gravel grey, gruel grey, gum grey, gunmetal grey, hippo grey, hoary grey, ice grey, iron grey

K to W
knife grey, lead grey, mercury grey, meteor grey, mummy grey, nail grey, nickel, otter grey, pebble grey, pepper grey, pewter, pigeon grey, porpoise grey, porridge grey, rat grey, salt-and-pepper, seal grey, shadow grey, shark grey, shovel grey, silver, slate, sleet grey, slug grey, slush grey, smog grey, smoke, steel grey, stone grey, storm grey, stormy grey, stormy-sea grey, sword grey, tabby grey, tank grey, tweed grey, wax grey, wolf grey

See 1000+ Ways to Describe Colors for more options.

Scents

The scents of substances in our environment are absorbed by skin, hair, and clothing. The stereotypical oldster might apply liniment, ignore the doctor’s advice about snuff, or overindulge on beer. Perhaps the person spends hours gardening, baking, or playing bridge while puffing on cigars.

Here are a few idea starters for scents.

Your senior characters might smell like, reek of, or be redolent with the scent of:

A to T
antiseptic, apple pies, an ashtray, baby diapers, baby powder, a bakery, a barn, booze, calamine lotion, camphor oil, cat urine, cigarettes, cigars, cinnamon, cottage cheese, dirty socks, foot powder, a dumpster, hairspray, the kitchen, a leather recliner, licorice, lilac perfume, liniment, “medical” marijuana, money [figurative], mothballs, moustache wax, old laundry, rancid cheese, room deodorizer, shaving cream, singed hair, stale urine, tobacco snuff, too much perfume, turpentine

The Versatility of Verbs and Phrasal Verbs

We typically think of older people as slow movers with dragging feet. They might clear their throats frequently, gripe about neighbors, or forget people’s names.

Here are a few verbs that might suit your character(s).

A to G
amble, annoy, argue, badger, bait, bellyache, bicker, blather, bluster, brood, carp, complain, cough, criticize, crochet, deride, disagree, disapprove, disparage, droop, equivocate, falter, flout, forget, fret, get lost, gibber, goad, gob, gossip, gripe, grouse, grumble, grunt

H to O
harangue, hawk, hiss, hobble, hork, hound, huff, humiliate, hunch, ignore, insult, jabber, knit, limp, lose one’s way, lumber, lurch, meander, mock, mope, mosey, nag, natter, neglect, niggle, nitpick, overlook

P to R
pant, pester, play [bridge, canasta, checkers, chess, poker, lawn darts (illegal), shuffleboard], plod, pout, prate, prattle, puff, quibble, quiver, ramble, rant, rasp, rattle, reel, ridicule

S to W
scorn, shamble, shuffle, sigh, slouch, snarl, sneer, snivel, snore, snort, snub, snuffle, spit, split hairs, splutter, squabble, stagger, sulk, sway, taunt, tease, teeter, torment, torture, totter, tremble, trudge, waddle, wander, wheeze, whine, whisper, wink, wobble

Nouns

Many nouns that could replace old person create a negative impression.

B to W
battle-ax, beldame, centenarian, crone, dodo, dotard, dowager, elder, fogey, fossil, gaffer, geezer, golden-ager, granddame, graybeard, greybeard, hag, matriarch, nonagenarian, OAP, octogenarian, oldster, old-timer, patriarch, pensioner, retiree, senior, senior citizen, septuagenarian, whitebeard

Clichés and Idioms

Clichés and idioms have their place in dialogue. However, avoid phrases such as the following unless they suit your narrator’s voice.

• falling apart at the seams
• long in the tooth
• moth-eaten
• no spring chicken
• old as Adam
• old as Methuselah
• old as the hills
• old enough to know better
• old hand
• older than dirt
• on one’s last legs
• one foot from the grave
• out of the ark
• over-the-hill
• past it
• the worse for wear